Moncef Slaoui, a former executive at GlaxoSmithKline, which has a research facility in Collegeville, has been tapped to lead Trump’s effort to produce and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine before the end of the year, writes Zeke Miller for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Slaoui, a Montgomery County resident, will lead “Operation Warp Speed,” the administration’s push to accelerate the process of vaccine development for the coronavirus.

He will serve in a voluntary capacity and will be assisted in his efforts by Army Gen. Gustave Perna, commander of United States Army Materiel Command.

Slaoui is a partner at Medicxi Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in drug trials. His naming comes as the president and White House aides hope to have a vaccine ready faster than most scientists believe is realistic.

The administration wants to have 300 million doses ready for distribution throughout the country by the end of the year, believing that having a vaccine is the only way to promote an economic rebound.

The effort is being carried out mostly independently from the White House’s existing coronavirus taskforce, which is also moving its focus primarily to the development of a vaccine.

Read more about Moncef Slaoui at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

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