Trump’s ‘Warp Speed’ Initiative Could Fund 3 to 5 Large-Scale COVID Vaccine Trials

FDA’s Peter Marks and Janet Woodcock will be on the bridge for Operation Warp Speed; Moncef Slaoui says early clinical data on one vaccine candidate makes him confident that a few hundred million doses of a vaccine can be available by the end of the year.

Moncef Slaoui at White House press briefing
Former GSK vaccine chief Moncef Slaoui speaks at White House press briefing on 15 May 2020. NIAID's Anthony Fauci stands behind him wearing a mask. • Source: White House TV feed

President Trump has tapped two of the top officials in the US Food and Drug Administration – Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research – to take leading roles in his Operation Warp Speed initiative.

The program is intended to facilitate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics between the Department...

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