Tag: Operation Warp Speed

Operation Warp Speed leader to stay on during Biden administration

Moncef Slaoui had told POLITICO in November that he was planning to step down by early this year.

Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser Moncef Slaoui said he plans to continue working on the government’s vaccine accelerator during the Biden administration, reversing earlier plans to step down soon.

Slaoui said the Biden team asked him to remain on as a consultant and he accepted. However, Slaoui didn’t say how long he would stay and indicated that his role could shrink in the coming weeks.

“I have decided to extend that in order to ensure that the operation continues to perform the way it has performed through the transition of administration,” Slaoui said during an Operation Warp Speed press briefing Wednesday. Continue reading.

How Trump is undermining his own vaccine race

Operation Warp Speed is the administration’s best attempt at fighting coronavirus, experts say, but White House meddling has caused public confidence to plummet.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn spent weeks preparing a proposal to set more stringent standards for emergency authorization of a coronavirus vaccine, hoping to boost public trust in the government’s biggest public health decision in decades. 

“Science will guide our decisions,” he pledged to a Senate panel on Wednesday. “FDA will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that.”

Hours later, President Donald Trump sought to do just that. Incensed over the prospect the new guidelines could slow the process, Trump blew up the FDA’s carefully laid plans – vowing to have final say over his administration’s procedures for authorizing a long-sought Covid-19 vaccine. The White House has since demanded that Hahn submit a fuller justification of his bid to set stricter standards, two administration officials said, a directive that could halt the proposal indefinitely. Continue reading.