The chief adviser for the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed said the worst impact of the new variant of the coronavirus is that it will make the current surge in COVID-19 cases worse.
In an interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui said virus mutations are “part of its normal behavior,” so variants are to be expected.
“What's very important is to study those variants and understand how infectious they are, whether they have more impact in terms of morbidity or mortality, and critically now, whether they are still sensitive to the vaccines that have been developed,” he said.
“And on those three counts, based on the information shared with us by the U.K. scientists and early data that we have here, we think that these viruses, these various variants should be under control with this vaccine. Fortunately, they are not more deadly to the population. They are more infectious, and therefore they will further exacerbate the surge that we are having."
According to Slaoui, the variant “should be a signal” to emphasize the mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing and to be “very aware of people around us and continue to be very careful around the transmission.”
He also pushed back on criticism that the federal vaccination rollout has been too slow, saying states have to make specific requests for what they need, noting the government doesn’t know the needs as well as local officials.
“We stand by here to help any specific request,” he said. “We will do the best we can, as we have done over the last eight months, to make these vaccines, indeed make it into the arms of people. But we need to have a specific ask.”
“Over the last 72 hours, 1.5 million vaccine doses have been inoculated. … That's 500,000 a day,” he added.
“We are optimistic as we go beyond this holiday season that the numbers will go up and we are standing ready to do what we are asked. … I don't think we are able to identify exactly which long-term care facility or which CVS store should be getting more vaccine or less vaccine. That has to be done with people that have granular knowledge of their population."
Slaoui also suggested there could be on the horizon an alternative to the two-dose regimen currently underway that will maximize the available vaccine.
“We know that for the Moderna vaccine, giving half of the dose to people between the ages of 18 and 55… means exactly achieving the objective of immunizing double the number of people with the doses we have,” he said. “We know it induces identical immune response to the hundred microgram dose and therefore we are in discussion with Moderna and with the FDA.”
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.