NEW YORK : The race is on to be the first developer of a coronavirus vaccine, with global drugmakers and the White House seeking to compress into just months a process that normally takes several years.
Whether it can happen remains an enigma. For the Trump administration, news of a successful vaccine could calm the virus’s toxic effects on the US economy in the midst of an ongoing presidential campaign.
Donald Trump’s goal with “Operation Warp Speed," a covert push reported on this week, is for hundreds of millions of doses to be produced by year’s end. “I’m not over-promising," Trump said in a White House meeting with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Thursday. “You know who’s in charge of it, honestly?