President Trump has chosen a former pharmaceutical executive, and a four-star general to run Operation Warp Speed, an effort to speed up development of a vaccine for COVID-19 and get is to as many Americans as quickly as possible.
General Gustave Perna, Commander of the U.S. Army Material Command, will be the Chief Operating Officer of the program, and former GlaxoSmithKline executive Moncef Slaoui, who held numerous roles at the company over a long career, including chairman of global vaccines, has been named Chief Adviser.
With Operation Warp Speed, President Trump is trying to push the development of a vaccine sooner than the 12 to 18 month timeframe.
“I hope we’re going to have a vaccine, and if we come up with one, we will fast track it like you have never seen before,” Trump said at the end of April when the idea was first reported.
