Former Operation Warp Speed health advisor Dr. Moncef Slaoui said that 90% of the current administration’s coronavirus vaccine implantation plan is the same as the Trump administration had established – despite claims that Biden inherited “no plan”.
President Biden’s chief of staff insisted that the previous government had no plans to distribute vaccines. CNN released a widely criticized report that Biden’s team was “starting from scratch”, but Dr. Anthony Fauci immediately rejected such claims.
Slaoui joined Fauci to debunk these same allegations, instead insisting that the Biden plan is essentially the same as the Trump administration outlined.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed, speaks at the White House’s Rose Garden, Friday, November 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo / Evan Vucci)
“I think we had plans,” Slaoui told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program on Saturday. “In fact, 90% of what is happening now is the plan we had.”
“Of course, the first thing was to speed up the development of the vaccine,” explained Slaoui. “We specifically contracted 100 million doses of the vaccine, but we included options in the contracts to purchase more vaccines as soon as we knew they were effective.”
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“So, I think what is happening now is right, but I think what is happening was – substantially it was the plan.”
Slaoui pointed out that 90% covered “manufacturing, supply and distribution”, but he credited the use of FEMA and sports arenas as mass vaccination sites as good measures to help “speed up” the administration of vaccines that the plan did not cover. .
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He also revealed that Operation Warp Speed held talks with Merck – a Johnson & Johnson competitor – before the new government took office about the possibility of using its facilities to reinforce vaccine manufacturing.
Speaking with presenter Margaret Brennan, Slaoui regretted some mistakes in the early days of the distribution, saying that more efforts should have been focused on educating the public, both on the pace of the launch and on the safety of the vaccine.
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In particular, he criticized the “politicization” of the vaccine, responding to images of Fauci and Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., Discussing the use of masks even after vaccination.
Slaoui called wearing masks “an act of civility” for people who have not yet been vaccinated.
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“I think as long as the herd’s immunity levels are not maintained, people who have been vaccinated should continue to wear masks,” said Slaoui. “What we still don’t know is whether the vaccine prevents the virus from replicating.”