President-Elect Biden Appoints Dr. David Kessler to Lead Operation Warp Speed

On Friday, Jan. 15, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he was appointing David Kessler, M.D., former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to lead Operation Warp Speed, the COVID-19 vaccine development and management body created by the Trump administration last year.

Reuters’ Trevor Hunnicutt wrote that “The news came as Biden was due to outline his plans to ramp up vaccinations amid soaring infections and an early rollout by the Trump administration that Biden has called ‘a dismal failure.’ Kessler, a pediatrician and lawyer who headed the FDA under presidents George Bush senior and Bill Clinton, will be Chief Science Officer of the administration’s COVID-19 Response. That expanded role will include replacing Moncef Slaoui as the chief adviser for the vaccine distribution effort the Trump administration called Operation Warp Speed. Kessler is expected to provide advice on vaccine manufacturing, distribution, safety and efficacy. Slaoui, meanwhile, is expected to stay on as a consultant during a transitional period, with Warp Speed chief operating officer and U.S. Army General Gustave Perna staying on the team during the new administration.”

Meanwhile, the Associated Press’s Ricard Alonso-Zaldivar and Matthew Perrone wrote that “Dr. David Kessler, who will have the title of chief science officer of COVID response, headed the Food and Drug Administration in the 1990s under presidents of both political parties. He has been acting as a top pandemic adviser to Biden and his appointment was announced Friday by the presidential transition office. Kessler will work out of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, assuming responsibility for the scientific side of Operation Warp Speed, an effort launched under the Trump administration to rapidly develop vaccines and treatments. The drive has already produced two highly effective vaccines, and more are on the way,” they wrote.

Alonso-Zaldivar and Perrone added that, “Nonetheless, the nation’s vaccination campaign has gotten off to a slow start, and most of the vaccine being delivered to states by the federal government is not being used right away. A person advising the Biden transition team,” they reported, “said Kessler will take on the role now being carried out by Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a prominent vaccine scientist and innovator who has been serving as chief advisor to Operation Warp Speed. Several vaccine candidates in the pipeline are in final clinical trials, and one company is expected to soon apply for FDA emergency approval for its formulation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Army Gen. Gustave Perna, who has been in charge of vaccine delivery under Operation Warp Speed, is expected to stay on.”

Meanwhile, in their report in the Washington Post, Laurie McGinley and Amy Goldstein wrote on Friday that “His appointment comes at a pivotal moment — as the president-elect has begun spelling out plans to speed up the Trump administration’s sluggish effort on vaccinations to protect against covid-19, the disease caused by the deadly virus. Biden, in a speech Thursday night, said he would ask Congress for $20 billion — part of a larger package targeting the pandemic — to provide a much more aggressive federal role in the vaccine rollout. Those steps include adding many more vaccination sites and expanding the public health workforce to administer vaccines and do outreach to encourage Americans to get the shots,” the wrote.

And, they added, “According to a transition official, speaking on the condition of anonymity about details not publicly announced, Kessler will essentially take over the role played by Moncef Slaoui, who has been the chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s public-private initiative to hasten the manufacture and distribution of vaccines to curb the pandemic.The transition official said that Operation Warp Speed was created by the outgoing administration to develop a vaccine to protect people from the coronavirus, while the Biden administration’s central focus will be on getting Americans immunized. The official said, “Warp Speed is the Trump administration’s name. We are going to phase in a new structure that will have its own name,” adding that many of Warp Speed’s employees will rename the revised structure.”