President Trump launches ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to find COVID-19 vaccine

140 Comments

President Trump on Friday announced “Operation Warp Speed” — a new initiative that is aimed at developing, manufacturing and distributing an effective COVID-19 vaccine. Trump described the administration’s plan as “a massive scientific industrial and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project,” American project set up in 1942 to develop the atom bomb.

Warp speed as depicted in Star Trek: The Original Series
Warp speed as depicted in Star Trek: The Original Series

Audrey Conklin for FOXBusiness:

“We’d love to see if we can do it prior to the end of the year,” the president said. “We think we’re going to have some very good results coming out very quickly.”

The administration is providing roughly $10 billion to support the medical research effort, including funding for vaccine development. “There’s never been a vaccine project like this anywhere in the world,” he said.

Dr. Moncef Slaoui and Gen. Gustave Perna will lead Operation Warp Speed.

MacDailyNews Note: General Gustave F. Perna is a United States Army four-star general who serves as the commanding general of United States Army Materiel Command.

Moderna, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients, today announced that Dr. Moncef Slaoui has resigned from Moderna’s Board of Directors upon appointment of his new role to oversee the White House’s Operation Warp Speed initiative. Dr. Slaoui joined Moderna’s Board of Directors in 2017.

“I would like to thank Moncef for his critical insights and three years of service on the Moderna Board,” said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Co-Founder and Chairman of Moderna, and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. “Moncef’s extensive vaccine and therapeutic development guidance were important as we continue to advance Moderna’s mRNA platform. We wish him well in this new role.”

“I am honored to be asked by the Administration to take on this important responsibility,” said Moncef Slaoui, Ph.D., in a statement, “My entire professional career has been focused on development of therapies and vaccines to benefit many. I was inspired by Moderna’s vision to invest in developing a new class of medicines and vaccines based on messenger RNA. I have valued my time as a Board member and wish the Company the best as it continues its mission for patients.”

“I greatly appreciate Moncef’s contributions to the Moderna Board in his role of Chair of the Product Development Committee,” said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. “His expertise and skills were invaluable as we approach advanced stages of development across our clinical programs. It has been a privilege to work with Moncef over the last three years.”

140 Comments

      1. I wish he’d proceed slowly. Getting “protected paychecks” from the govt is real nice and I was hoping they’d continue until next summer. Besides, I’d like the crisis to be extended to Nancy could get funding for hemp growers and for the plans to be worked for receiving ongoing income from the govt. Some say we’re f’ed, but it enables more time at the lake for me.

        Reply

      1. Yes, the creation of the new “Force” was/is the FIRST!

        Oh you’re looking at the artwork. Yeah kind of derivative, but enemy lasers don’t care.

        Reply

        5. Yeah, because putting the Pentagon in charge of it will certainly deliver results on time and below cost. Stable Genius.

          Face it, Don is grasping at straws for any promises to sell to his gullible followers. First it was fresh spring air, then malaria meds, then Lysol and bleach injections. Now the promise of untested fast-tracked attempt at a vaccine.

          I don’t know why Don bothers to waste the time or money. All he, the premier medical expert , needs to do is tell his base to intentionally infect themselves to get that herd immunity going real quick … for free. MAGAMAGAMAGA

        6. What you, Democrats and the media continually FAIL to understand — the Don is not an ENTRENCHED swamp politician.

          He will go out CREATIVELY ON A LIMB and receive only scorn for his efforts.

          So much for the Democrat Progressive Party joining in and working together. With President Trump…

        13. @applecynic 4:15 pm

          Yeah, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Joe Dementia Biden are the most TRUTHFUL people on earth.

          Don’t get me started my friend, I will bury you in Democrat LYING FACTS…

        15. Until you bring any proof, Goeb, it’s abundantly clear you’re just another enabler for Lyin’ Don. After drinking the koolaide all day, you come to a supposed tech blig to tell everyone to disbelieve their eyes & ears. Everyone knows Lyin’ Don is making up the lies as he goes along. Everyone but you and the other 5 Faux Friends here.

      1. CitizenX, the master of ignorance and hate. And being a lowly shop manager. Wasn’t even the owner. Just managed to get by, is all. You is what you is.

        Reply

        3. hey goeb snot. 3 years after getting out of jail, I was managing a restaurant. 6 years after that I was building the greatest chain of computers that stands to this day.
          Go $#* yourself.

        4. I met Gates, Jobs and the Cohen brothers. They made their dent in the universe, I follow such greatness by making a dent in the MDN forums. You swine are just low life peasants but I still make an effort to come here EVERY DAY after little league taxi practice to tell you all how utterly stupid you are. Yes, this is what a genius retailer who helped the world’s greatest does these days. I’m a stable genius retailer with biiiig hands, and my mushroom is very big too I’ll have you know. My dent in the universe consists of reminding you I met Jobs, Gates and the Wachowski sisters (née brothers) and reminding everyone at MDN non stop about it. I is legend, and unlikely my buddy Bill Clinton, I know what the definition of is, is!

        6. Very tedious. I literally bring 43 years of experience to my computer comments. You. Got an iPhone from your mother for your christmas present.

          Hey simpleton. Ever invite Alan Kay to speak at your user group meeting. No. oh yeah. That iPhone you got from your parents makes you an expert.

          get a life. I will never apologize for changing the world and I am proud of my accomplishments.

        7. Sorry CitizenStupid, given your complete devotion to stupidity, no one believes a single word you say.  You act more like a 14 year old in your parents basement.

          You are a typical demonrat, nothing but lies and stupidity comes out of your mouth.

          Americans are tired of liberal’s BS

        10. If you think the premier computer retailer in the northwest in the early 80’s, nay the nation is a shop, you can go get on the dole with your socialized medicine.

        13. LOL.. I was such a lowly shop mnager that I had one education order for over a million dollars. 133 Apple iie’s, 175 disk drives, 133 monitors and accessories.
          I’m proud of what I accomplished. You whine about me.

        15. LOL. My parents are dead. I retired in 2018. I’m pretty sure it’s you in your moms basement shoving orange cheetos (trumps head) up your ass.

        17. You might once have been a great man, a meeter of famous people, but now you’re just a despicable hater. You spew venom and hate here at MDN, it’s not healthy. CitizenX, please go and see a doctor, we are worried for you.

        2. Dude, the Biden Buffoon gaffe machine has dementia and the ultimate swamp creature for decades over Hillary. Classic example what is EXACTLY WRONG with entrenched on the take Washington politicians.

          Please tell the rest of the class how he is better than President Trump, who through his policies and on his watch the economy broke several all time records in three years. An unprecedented feat in history.

          What, you gonna tell us the liberal Democrat media and Hollywood clueless celebrities and yourself likes him and his corrupt family? 🤣

          Biden’s worst enemy is Biden…

        5. How do you claim Trump / Drumpf made records.

          He got impeached, he made is employees commit treason, all his officials pled guilty, midwest farmers went bankrupt in his economy, most American manufactures have lost market share, Mexican goods have become more expensive because we are still paying for the wall, he dismissed pandemic response team (more cases and deaths in USA), he increased hate in America, all leaders laughed at him in the UN federation (USA has never been shamed like this on record since it was founded), not to mention porn star pay off. He is so cheap, has no class, just a money maggot, no ethics, human values. even his family life does not represent any good values. He has no religious values, he is protected by satan and he brainwashes the masses, otherwise he must have paid for his sins.

        6. Absence of negatives dear friend. Not being Trump is enough.

          And merely being a non-politician is not enough.

          I reposted another persons opinion piece the other day and it was taken down, I agree with it. It’s a 100 level review, but it could easily extended to a grad course.

          I’ll repost it to you as a separate reply. Let’s see if it survives.

        7. An anguished question from a Trump supporter: ‘Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?’

          The serious answer: Here’s what we really think about Trump supporters – the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the ones who think and the ones who don’t…

          That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.”

          That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.”

          That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.”

          That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.”

          That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you chirped, “He sure knows me.”

          That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an imposition on him, you said, “That’s cool!”

          That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw.

          That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?”

          That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.”

          That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!”

          That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!”

          That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!”

          That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.”

          That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!”

          That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!”

          That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was in the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.”

          That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!”

          That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.”

          That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise.

          What you don’t get, Trump supporters in 2019, is that succumbing to frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable.
          Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

          -by Florida writer Adam-Troy Castro #AdamTroyCastro

        8. @Test. 6:13 AM.

          “How do you claim Trump / Drumpf made records.”

          That is a very disrespectful depiction of the tireless working president in our lifetimes. Contrast that with President Obama golfing and Melania trips to Hawaii and Europe at taxpayers expense. Have you no shame?

          He got impeached? HA! Did that also slow President Clinton down? Water off of Trump’s back like a duck and read carefully, the most PARTISAN POLITICAL impeachment in history!

          Oh, by the way the president was found NOT GUILTY in the Senate. Sorry to break an inconvenient truth you can’t handle. 🤣

          Your litany of one sided accusations against the president without full and fair accounting of events is yet another example of partisan cherry picking cluelessness.

          If you are way behind President Trump’s record economic numbers, then stay behind, partisan clueless.

          Ignorance is your Linus blanket…

        14. @applecynic Saturday, May 16, 2020 at 7:19 am

          Tedious and lengthy post by Florida writer Adam-Troy Castro #AdamTroyCastro

          Read every word.

          Certainly, I respect free speech and listen to opinions I may not agree with.

          I agree with many of Adam’s points, but at the end disagree more.

          It is a pity and a TRUE SORROW we are so partisan divided these days we can’t work tog

        2. Yes, he does not have an atom of reality or intelligence in his whole being. ZERO stalks opinions that do not swallow the liberal/Democrat FALSE meme. Metal Midget he actually believes he is somehow relevant…

        4. poor goeb of snot. Get something new beside your stupidity and hate. Go get fucked by a transexual hooker when you get your next troll check.

        5. CitizenX, the man who met Jobs and Gates reduced to making a dent in the universe by talking about snot, hookers and trannies. Wow, Jobs would be proud of you CitizenXuckwit. This is your contribution? You mock hate and haters when all your posts drip with lashings it pure hate? Go back to your shop, at least you sold products and services, ain’t nobody but you buying your little hate pity party.

        6. CitizenX, as relevant as dipshit. You said it, buddy, finally you said something worth agreeing with. You definitely are relevant… as dipshit!

        9. You’re sick in the head and a great example of what’s wrong in today’s America – living off past glories like having met Jobs, Gates and the Winklevoss Twins, and whose only contribution to the modern world is spewing vitriol and hate. Sad.

    1. If you were correct, I’d have to agree with you.
      Sadly the world as a whole perceives Americans to be a gun-toting unruly mob of protesting idiots.

      People who post on this forum only reinforce this perception.

      Reply

      1. Really…and why in the F do many people want to come to work and visit the US? It’s still call the land of opportunity. No, I didn’t say perfect.

        “Americans to be a gun-toting unruly mob of protesting idiots”….Can we say their perceptions are wrong, or you live in a strange neighborhood?

        Look at you–Tweaked…posting on the exact site that you note these ridiculous people are found. Simply hilarious when people hold themselves up so high, only to soil themselves.

        Reply

        1. “Really…and why in the F do many people want to come to work and visit the US? It’s still call the land of opportunity. ” True

          “No, I didn’t say perfect.” No you just get all Jilly Nads when someone else says it.

        2. I agree USA is the land of opportunity for legal immigration.

          I disagree it is the land of illegal immigration that your Democrat Party wants to finance illegals to come here and benefit the latest 3 Trillion passed bill in the House.

          My father is 86 years old a Sergeant in the Marines serving in Korea and in the Pelosi Dream Bill he is left out and illegals get money. Even at the local VA Hospital he has to wait for weeks or months to be seen by a professional.

          Is that OK with you applecynic?

        7. Liberal protesters have read the whole document, not just the pro-gun clause of one amendment. Right wingers like you always grasp for anything that increases your own power/wealth, reason and long term consequences be damned

        9. “Typical goeb speak”

          It is disrespectful and dishonest to falsely represent my opinions on a FAKE AVATAR.

          Pay attention imposter, here is my opinion: Guns are GOOD…

  6. The lack of clarity in your post prohibits clarity, so I’ll assume….

    Yes, Joe’s condition is concerning. Yes, Don’s claim to “the best in the world, of all-time” is embarrassing.

    One matter relates to function and the other to personality. Take your pick.

    Reply

    1. Substance? Okay. Credit where credit is due.

      He violates Emoluments great.
      He pisses on separation of powers like no other.
      He makes decisions that fit his ego magnificently.
      He puts up smokescreen for new Nazi and Alt Right supporters like no other.

      And the best of it all… this is his idea of ‘merica.

      Reply

        3. If he did he had probable cause. You have probable delusion. Trump should have been investigated inside out, and his violation of Emoluments alone (which he called phony) mandates tax returns.

          Imagine that! The person primarily required to protect the Constitution calls parts of it phony! Still have to uphold it effer!

      1. But what is your opinion of the biomedicist’s view? Otherwise it just looks like your shooting the messenger because you don’t like the message.

        For the record these are his qualifications:

        He received his training in medicine at the University of New South Wales (MB,BS Hons, 1972; MD, 1988), St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and Sydney Hospital (FRACP, 1979) and University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (UTSWMS), Dallas, Texas (FRCP, 1981). He was appointed as Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, UTSWMS (Alfred Gilman, Chairman, Nobel Laureate) in 1978, and Associate Professor in Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Research Laboratory (Edgar Haber, Chairman), Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (1982).

        In 1988, he undertook a Sabbatical working with H. Gobind Khorana (Nobel Laureate) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1989, he was appointed as Robert C. Tarazi Chairman, Department of Molecular Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation and Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. After 17 years in the US, he returned to Australia in 1994, as the inaugural Executive Director, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute and Professor of Medicine, UNSW. In 2003 he was appointed as the Des Renford Professor of Medicine, UNSW (2003).

        A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2002) and Foreign Member, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (2010), his research for many years has focused on molecular cardiology, with emphasis on circulatory control mechanisms, hypertension, receptor signalling and cardiac hypertrophy. Recently, he has also been actively involved in studies of cardiac regeneration and the application of stem cells for the treatment of heart diseases. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed papers.

        Again I ask the question, what is YOUR opinion of his viewpoint? Does that make him a socialist or a highly qualified medico? So what is you opinion? Elucidate please!

        Reply

    2. Thank you.
      You have led people and jackasses to water, some might even drink.

      The esteemed doctor has informed the public, the debate, if any will be among medical professionals.

      The opinions of the uninformed less so…, just louder.

      Reply

    3. Thank you. This is a cogent explanation by a world-class researcher of why a vaccine may not be as simple, safe, or effective as some think. One hopes that all the money devoted to a vaccine will not divert efforts to develop effective treatments. This has nothing to do with politics, even if it was printed in a Non-Murdoch Medium.

      Reply

      1. Yes, I hope a vaccine is difficult or impossible to make. I hope all of the pharmaceutical companies in the United States fail. I hope the military’s efforts fail. I hope the Administration fails. That would be wonderful thing to spin against Trump! Yay!

        Biden / Reade 2020!

        Reply

        2. Citizen X: respect for hitting back at these vile right-wing stinking sacks of sh*t. I’m heartened to see that you don’t give in. Although, arguing here is almost pointless, it is important to push back. They ought to know that we despise their values and have utmost contempt for their heroes. Ultimately, I don’t blame them, I blame the liars who feed them with conspiracies, and other bullshit. The remaining President Dog Turd supporters are, at most, 40 percentile IQ, not very discerning with new information, don’t bother with more than one news source, (they ain’t Henry Kissinger, right?), and mostly, cannot deal with the cognitive dissonance when facing the possibility: “Is everything I’ve heard false? Could the President actually be lying?” I mostly blame the Faux News journalists—spewing hate and tearing the country to shreds so they can join the 1%, while scowling, sneering at the less fortunate and those who come to their aid. Why? So that their backers can raid the federal coffers for just four more years, screw over Mr and Mrs Average (who are measurably poorer than), grab every dime generated by the economy for themselves, while condemning our world to destruction.

        4. Yep. before campaign season, articles would get 5, 10, 15 comments. Now that the trolls have returned, suddenly the slightly right wing site has now turned into a full blown hate site.

        5. hey snot goeb. foxnews is literally and legally an entertainment organization. They are NO DIFFERENT THAN THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
          You get you truth from people that still think batboy lives on the moon.
          Idiot.

      2. There is no excuse for that comment, Mr. Graham. Nobody wants anybody to die. Nobody wants the economy to suffer unnecessary harm. Claiming otherwise is a despicable lie.

        Some of us would like the setting of priorities for a scientific project to be set by actual scientists, not by some guy with an undistinguished business degree who (six months into this) still can’t understand that coronaviruses and influenza viruses aren’t the same thing.

        Those of us who are pointing out the gross mishandling of the US response are trying to prompt a better response, which would save lives. That is a lot more important than some politician’s ego. You lot need to stop assuming that any scientist who doesn’t buy into the Fox News miracle cure of the week is politically motivated. Read the science, for God’s sake!

        Reply

        1. Isn’t Mr. Graham the scientist who wrote the article being referenced above?
          Yes, Covid-19 is a health issue. Nobody denies that.
          Covid is also an economic issue. Not too many people deny that (especially if you live in Los Angeles county where they are considering extending the shutdown until THE END OF AUGUST – but that is another topic… especially if you can’t go back to work until SEPTEMBER!!).
          Covid is also a political issue. Some people deny that.
          ‘god’ spelled with a capital ‘g’ is offensive.

        3. As a Christian, I believe that spelling “God” with a small “g” is offensive. I don’t particularly care if it bothers atheists. I was calling on the Holy Name of the Deity to bring some wisdom to those who believe that the allocation of resources between scientific alternatives (vaccines vs. treatments, for example) should be determined by anyhing other than the scientific merits of the alternatives.

          Determining that you are going to spend $10 billion on pandemic mitigation is an economic and political issue, but that decision has already been made by the President of the United States and his economic/political/medical advisers. Whether the money should be spent on one drug rather than another—which is what we are discussing—is a purely scientific question that should be determined by scientific criteria, not by what has caught the fancy of Tucker Carlson or Sean Hannitty.

          How quickly we come out of lockdown is also a political and economic question. We agree on that. However, such questions are best determined by balancing benefits against costs. Only the scientists are in a position to provide reliable information about potential costs. If the politicians choose to overrule them, that within their power… but it may not be wise. It might not even be economically or politically wise.

  11. Coronavirus was first discovered in 1930. There is, as yet, no vaccine. Rushing to make a vaccine is dangerous, and though I am sure Trump’s intentions are good, this is a risky move.

    As for Trump vs Biden, what liberals don’t understand is that 1) most are 100% brainwashed and 2) the reason Biden is your guy is because the Clinton Machine is your true God, and they are corrupt as hell, but you follow along like good zombies (who think themselves “smart”, just like the Germans circa 1930-1944).

    I wish Trump luck, as he battles this attack on his administration. The Resistance is not bound to ethics, it’s bound to seizing power, at any cost, by any means necessary.

    Reply

  12. Would have thought he would be better utilised at Moderna than this bureaucratic construct its companies like thm after all who will be the ones actually making progress over the latter and its likely politicised wranglings. Let’s hope not and power hasn’t just gone to his head like so many before him.

    Reply

  13. That’s after he launched Operation – Grossly Obscene Delay (O-GOD).
    “The government leaders who failed to safeguard the nation are CDC Director Redfield; FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn; Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; Jared Kushner; and of course, President Trump. Together, these men had the power to change the direction of this pandemic, to lessen its impact on the economy, and constrain the death toll from COVID-19. Each failed, in a series of errors and mismanagement that grew into a singular catastrophe.

    Reply

    1. That’s after he launched Operation – Grossly Obscene Dongler (O-GOD).
      “The artistic leaders who failed to safeguard the national art galleries are CDC Director Rootfield; FDA Commissioner Stephen Hancock; Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azarcadabrar; Jared Dingler; and of course, President Dingleberry himself. Together, these men had the power to change the direction of this John Dingler’s hopeless art, to lessen its impact on the economy, and constrain the death toll from seared eyeballs. Each failed, in a series of errors and mismanagement that grew into a singular catastrophe – that of preventing John Dingler from travelling to Cuba, when he wanted to, in an act of sheer stupidity. It is too late now, Dingler is America’s worst artist of all time. Ever. The only customers he has these days – CitizenXuckwit and applecyntnic

      Reply

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