Trump unveils ‘warp-speed’ effort to create coronavirus vaccine by year’s end

Donald Trump has announced details of a “warp-speed” effort to create a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, even as experts warn that such a breakthrough could take longer than 18 months.

During remarks in the White House Rose Garden on Friday that had to compete with honking from protesting truck drivers, however, the US president also urged schools to reopen in the autumn and insisted: “Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back.”

Unveiling details of “Operation Warp Speed”, a name that references a concept popularised by Star Trek and other science fiction, Trump said: “That means big and it means fast. A massive scientific, industrial and logistical endeavour unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.”

He added: “Its objective is to finish developing and then manufacture and distribute a proven coronavirus vaccine as fast as possible. Again, we’d love to see if we can do it prior to the end of the year.”

Standing just behind him, Anthony Fauci, an infectious diseases expert wearing a face mask, cast his glance down and reached to adjust his tie. Trump did not wear a face mask.

In testimony to Congress on Tuesday, Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned: “There’s no guarantee that the vaccine is actually going to be effective.”

And on Thursday Rick Bright, the ousted head of a government agency seeking a vaccine, told Congress: “Normally, it takes up to 10 years to make a vaccine. A lot of optimism is swirling around a 12-to-18-month time frame, if everything goes perfectly. We’ve never seen everything go perfectly.”

Trump said the government would invest in all the top vaccine candidates and said a list had been narrowed to 14 promising possibilities with a plan to narrow further. The initiative will work with the US military and other countries, accelerate the typical regulatory process and mobilise to get a vaccine distributed once one is in place.

“There’s never been a vaccine project anywhere in history like this,” he continued, in what appeared to be a break from the script, slicing the air with his right hand. “And I just want to make something clear. It’s very important. Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back and we’re starting the process and, in many cases, they don’t have vaccines and a virus or a flu comes and you fight through it.”

Moncep Slaoui, a former chairman of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline who will lead the multibillion-dollar programme, expressed optimism that progress is being made.

“I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine,” he said. “These data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of a vaccine by the end of 2020.”

Gen Gustave Perna, a four-star general in charge of the army’s logistics and supply chain operation, will be the chief operating officer. Three career scientists will oversee each area of Operation Warp Speed.

Alex Azar, the health secretary, described it as “a dream team” and said: “We’ll use all of our regulatory tools to bring a vaccine available for the entire American population by January.”

The current US death toll is 86,000, with 1.4m confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. With various states already reopening, Trump promised the US economy would roar back. And answering questions from reporters, he insisted: “I think the schools should be back in the fall.”

Asked if he has concerns about students or teachers bringing the virus home to their families, Trump replied: “I’m concerned about everything. And I’m also concerned about our country. Our country has to get back.”

The shutdown itself causes massive depression, drugs, suicide and other problems that lead to death, he added. “We have a great plan to prevent the spread, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to close our country for five years, OK? Not going to happen.”

Fauci warned Congress this week of “really serious’ problems” if states ignore federal guidelines and move too quickly. He also said officials should not be “cavalier” about the virus’s impact on children.

Neither Fauci nor response coordinator Deborah Birx spoke at the event. Last month both were regular contributors to the daily press briefing.

Many administration officials in the garden wore face masks but the president did not. Trump and other speakers had to compete with a noisy chorus of horns from truckers who, he claimed, were protesting in his favour, describing it as a “sign of love”.

Joe Lockhart, a former White House press secretary, tweeted: “There is not an objective scientist on TV right now that believes anything that was said at the press conference who believes anything like this can be done by the end of the year. Caveat, I’m not watching Fox.”

In what may have been mere coincidence, Trump announced Operation Warp Speed on the same day that he was presented with the new space force flag in the Oval Office.