Coronavirus: Donald Trump aims to rush vaccine with ‘Operation Warp Speed’
- Secret project has goal of 100 million doses by year’s end, cutting development time by as much as eight months
- US taxpayers instead of drug companies will bear much of financial risk that vaccine candidates may fail
The Trump administration is quietly organising a Manhattan Project-style effort to drastically cut the time needed to develop a coronavirus vaccine, with a goal to have 100 million doses ready by year’s end, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Called “Operation Warp Speed”, the programme will pull together private pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and the military to try to cut the development time for a vaccine by as much as eight months, one of the people said.
As part of the arrangement, taxpayers will shoulder much of the financial risk that vaccine candidates may fail, instead of drug companies.
President Donald Trump’s top medical advisers, led by the infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, have repeatedly said that a coronavirus vaccine will not be ready for 12 to 18 months, at best.
Until then, White House guidelines envision some economically damaging social-distancing practices maintained even as the US begins to resume a more normal social and business life.
Last month, Trump directed Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to speed development of a vaccine, and administration officials have been meeting on the effort for three to four weeks, one of the people said. A meeting on the project was scheduled at the White House on Wednesday.