Difference between revisions of "Operation Warp Speed"

Revision as of 20:54, June 29, 2021

Operation Warp Speed was a Trump Administration era program that enabled for the swift development, production and delivery of vaccines that were to be used to inoculate the population against the COVID-19 "China Virus" pandemic that struck the United States in 2020. Officially announced on May 15, 2020, President Trump unveiled details of a "warp-speed" effort to create a Coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.^[1] Trump stated, "That means big and it means fast. A massive scientific, industrial and logistical endeavour unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project." The program promoted the fast-track development and mass production of vaccines with multiple vaccine developers for distribution throughout the United States. However, at the onset, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases warned, "There’s no guarantee that the vaccine is actually going to be effective," in testimony to Congress.^[2] During the Trump Administration - from May 2020 to January 2021, the program was headed by Moncef Slaoui, and then later by David A. Kessler.^[3] Through unprecedented efforts and removal of obstacle procedural hurdles, multiple vaccines were developed, distributed and administered within months of the first discovered case of the virus in the United States. The vaccines developed at "warp-speed" were eventually deemed to be safe and effective, and were provided to the public "free-of-charge."

The first discovered/confirmed case of the novel coronavirus outbreak SARS-COV-2, aka COVID-19, in the United States was documented on January 21, 2020.^[4] Announced on January 31, 2020 and later enforced on February 2, 2020, the Trump Administration enforced a complete ban on travel from mainland China and barred foreign nationals who had recently visited China from entering the United States as his administration continued to assess the growing threat of a coronavirus outbreak.^[5]

Project "MP2", which was later announced as Operation Warp Speed, was soon established and multiple companies were financed for the development of a vaccine. Under Trump's guidance, the U.S. government purchased initial batches of vaccines from Moderna, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, Pfizer, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca before knowing whether they were safe or effective.^[6][7]

The Research Vaccine Testing and Approval Process was complete by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. The FDA issued Emergency Use Authorization's and the initial distribution of two approved vaccines was accomplished during the final months of President Trump's presidency. In December 2020, the first vaccine was authorized for distribution, just days immediately following the 2020 Presidential election.^[8]

American pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German biotechnology company BioNTech collaborated and developed the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine^[9] and American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company Moderna developed the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.^[10] Both vaccines, based on messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) technology, were authorized by the FDA, shortly after the 2020 Presidential election was held.^[11] Following FDA approval, distribution began immediately via prearranged methods organized by the Trump Administration's COVID-19 task force.

The COVID-19 vaccines were administered by a variety of healthcare professionals that included: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physicians assistants, and pharmacy technicians. These professionals received training on how to administer the vaccine and how to manage very rare side effects of the vaccines.^[12] The first U.S. vaccinations for COVID-19 were administered on December 14, 2020. Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse was the first inoculated, via the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, in New York during a livestreamed event with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.^[13]

In October, 2020, (then candidate) Kamala Harris was hesitant and skeptical about taking the Trump's Warp Speed- Covid vaccine.^[14]

In December 2020, Admiral Brett Giroir, who was on the White House COVID-19 task force, reported that the country was on track to distribute 20 million vaccine doses, at least, by the first week of January 2021 and that approximately 30 million more doses were projected for the rest of January and another 50 million in February 2021. Additionally, it was reported that a third single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Johnson & Johnson / Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, could be approved for distribution as soon as January 2021.^[15][16] The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine was issued Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA in February 2021 and began shipping immediately, with plans to deliver more than 20 million doses in the U.S. in March 2021.^[17][18][19]

Distribution and administering of the vaccine was initially hindered and/or rejected by some local state electorate engaged in political opposition to President Trump's objectives.^[20]

In the final days of the Trump Administration, conservative radio talk-show host and journalist Howie Carr acknowledged and thanked President Trump for the effort, stating, in part, in an open letter published in the Boston Herald:

Operation Warp Speed was active through February 24, 2021, for a total of 285 days, disbanded and then transferred into the responsibilities of the so-called White House COVID-19 Response Team.^[22]

On May 25, 2021, in a message posted on the "Save America" web blog From the Desk of Donald J. Trump, the former President acknowledged the effort and continuing progress:

External links

• https://www.defense.gov/Explore/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Operation-Warp-Speed/#, U.S. Dept. of Defense
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Operation_Warp_Speed.png, US DoD Logo/seal, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

References