The chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed admitted on Monday that there was a “delay” in the administration of vaccines against the coronavirus, but defended the management of the federal government in its distribution.
Moncef Slaoui initially said on CNN’s “New Day” that “nothing went wrong” in the vaccination process.
“Our commitment was to have 20 million doses of vaccine available for the American people to be immunized,” he added.
“We agree that there is a delay” in vaccinations, said White House chief vaccine officer Moncef Slaoui. “I would have liked to have vaccinated 20 million, obviously. We work day and night to have these vaccines available and we will continue to work day and night to immunize them ”. pic.twitter.com/8z4lMnPymv
– New Day (@NewDay) January 4, 2021
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota then noted that Trump administration officials, and Slaoui himself, specifically designed 20 million vaccinated Americans to this point. Slaoui cited the doses sent to the states, although he admitted that “it is lower than we expected”.
“We agree that there is a delay,” said Slaoui. “We are going to work with the states. We need specific requests for help. … I wish I had vaccinated 20 million, obviously. We work day and night to have vaccines available and we will continue to work day and night to immunize them ”.
When Camerota observed Slaoui’s earlier projection again, he insisted that Operation Warp Speed ”hoped” to have vaccinated so many Americans by then, rejecting his characterization of him as “washing [his] his hands. “
The exchange was irritated when Slaoui accused CNN of mocking the idea of a vaccine being ready in late 2020. Camerota ended up asking him what the federal government’s plan was to improve vaccination numbers.
“Work with the states,” replied Slaoui. “We cannot decide where to help them. We have, so far, made the strategic decision to work across states … no state health department has told us that this is the wrong approach. “