Rather than let the vaccine science run its course, irrespective of electoral deadlines, Trump has meddled.

That likely reflects the consensus among experts and insiders close to the project that it will succeed in spite of, not because of, the president himself. “It could set a model for these types of public-private partnerships that move science and regulation along to achieve great things.”Īnd yet, there has been little sign of Trump receiving a political boost from that progress.

“What we’re seeing with Operation Warp Speed is unprecedented speed and public-private collaboration in a way that we’ve not seen before,” Kim Monk, founding partner at Capital Alpha, an investment advisory firm, told me. Trump had clung to the speedy development of a vaccine as the best hope for ending the coronavirus pandemic and for boosting his reelection chances - and his administration’s Operation Warp Speed can claim some credit for the rapid scientific advancements that we have seen over the last eight months. Instead, drug makers and public health experts think early 2021 is a more likely timeframe for the rollout of a vaccination campaign. A Covid-19 vaccine could be approved in record time, thanks to an unprecedented mobilization by the federal government and private sector - but it almost certainly isn’t coming before Election Day, as President Donald Trump has suggested throughout the year that it could.

Operation warp speed vaccine