Trump sets goal of hundreds of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses by January, but scientists doubt it - The Washington Post

The chief scientist of the new initiative, pharmaceutical industry veteran Moncef Slaoui, even teased that he had seen early clinical data from an unspecified vaccine trial that gave him hope.“This data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020,” said Slaoui, who was chosen in a selection process that heavily involved Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, according to two administration officials.Outside scientists said it was dangerous to set public expectations that a vaccine could be available by any deadline, given the many scientific unknowns and the fact that the first candidates are just now being injected into humans. Scientists still do not know which of several vaccine technologies will work or what level of immune response signals that someone is immune.Peter Jay Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said that with some large trials likely to begin this summer, the most reasonable timeline for proving a vaccine safe and effective would be the second half of next year — and even that would be “an absolute record.”A number of senior administration officials said on the condition of anonymity that they are also skeptical of the president’s timeline but that Trump wanted to provide “hope.” Birx has gently told the president it will be more difficult than he thinks to create a vaccine quickly.Manufacturing is one time-consuming aspect of making vaccines, but a bigger reason they take a long time to develop is because of how hard the science is — and how high the safety and effectiveness standards are. These trials traditionally can involve tens of thousands of people and take years, a process that will almost certainly be abridged in this case.It’s unclear exactly how the initiative, called Operation Warp Speed, will work given the federal government already has vaccine efforts underway, including a public-private partnership spearheaded by the National Institutes of Health, and has hundreds of millions in funding going to various drug companies from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.Slaoui formerly led vaccine development at GlaxoSmithKline and was praised by Trump as “a world-renowned immunologist who helped create 14 new vaccines.” He will work with Army Gen. Gustave F.