On Dec. 19, the Monitor published a letter from Joseph Mendola complaining that the Monitor had published “a political cartoon on Dec. 8 where the doctors and scientists were applauded for the [Operation Warp Speed] policy and President Trump was not even mentioned.”
He went on to state that “the truth is that without the leadership and planning by the president, there would be no fast-tracking the vaccine.”
A recent CNN report gives the lie to this assertion.
Research into corona viruses began in earnest 2003 with the emergence of the SARS virus and continued in 2012 with the identification of the MERS virus. Scientists noted that the virus used spikes on its external surface to enter and infect cells, and determined that “spike proteins” might be used to alert the human immune system to the presence of the virus.
When the COVID-2 virus emerged in early 2020, a research lab in Germany, BioNTek, partnered with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to develop a vaccine using messenger RNA (mRNA) to deliver the spike protein.
Neither company participated in Operation Warp Speed, but their vaccine was the first to be approved by the FDA and to be administered this month.
While Operation Warp Speed was useful to some smaller companies, the choice of this name is now having a down-side. The emphasis on speed has dissuaded some from believing that the vaccine is safe. Further, there has been no planning for a campaign to promote getting vaccinated.
So in the end, Operation Warp Speed may be a net negative. Just as the president planned?
Tom Chase
Northwood