Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser for the White House coronavirus vaccine development program, said Thursday that chances of a vaccine by Election Day are slim “but not impossible.”
“There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October,” Slaoui told NPR Thursday. “I think it’s extremely unlikely but not impossible.”
Slaoui, an immunologist who formerly headed vaccine development at GlaxoSmithKline, in May joined the White House’s Operation Warp Speed, a Manhattan Project-style vaccine development initiative. Since the project began, the Trump administration has spent over $10 billion on vaccine candidates. Those developed by Pfizer and Moderna are in the most advanced stages of development.
“I firmly believe that we will have a vaccine available before the end of the year, and it will be available in quantities that can immunize subjects with health at the highest risk,” Slaoui said. “And then we will ramp up the manufacturing of vaccine doses to be able to, based on our plans, have enough vaccine to immunize the U.S. population by the middle of 2021.”
Slaoui’s tempered optimism runs contrary to President Trump’s promises that a vaccine will become available possibly “before [Election Day] but right around that time.” Slaoui denied accusations that politics were playing a bigger role in the development initiative than science, adding that politics here are “irrelevant.”
“I can tell you that hundreds of people that are part of the operations are here,” Slaoui said. “For us, there is absolutely nothing to do with politics, and many of us may or may not be supportive of this administration.”
He further denied claims that the Trump administration is ready to approve a vaccine before clinical trials are completed as a means of boosting Trump’s credentials for reelection in November. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged governors last month to prepare vaccine distribution sites by Nov. 1, telling them to “consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities” from becoming fully operational. Slaoui, though, said it was “the right thing to do” in case a vaccine was ready by then, adding that “it would be irresponsible not to be ready if that was the case.”
