Slaoui Sees More Work Ahead as Vaccines Near Finish Line

In May, as the coronavirus surged throughout the U.S., the White House turned to former pharmaceutical executive Moncef Slaoui to steer its most ambitious pandemic response effort: funding the development and purchase of hundreds of millions of doses of an effective Covid-19 vaccine in under a year.

Now, vaccine candidates from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. that were 95% effective in clinical trials could be authorized for use in weeks. As Slaoui nears the milestone he set out to achieve, Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientific adviser says there's still more to accomplish. U.S. health officials must carry out a complex mass vaccination campaign, encourage continued enrollment in clinical trials and lay the foundation for a biodefense organization to combat the next pandemic.