US COVID-19 Vaccine Development Team Wants To Meet Joe Biden Soon

US President-elect, Joe Biden (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARTA - The chief adviser for the United States (US) 's efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 stated that he plans to meet with the team of the elected president, Joe Biden, to discuss the program before the first round of vaccinations takes place. A meeting is planned this week. Vaccinations are expected to start soon this month.

Quoting Reuters on Monday, December 7, Moncef Slaoui's chief advisor to the Operation Warp Speed ​​initiative, said he had not met Biden. Biden last week criticized the Trump administration's vaccine distribution plan.

"We are looking forward to it because everything has been planned very precisely," Slaoui said in an interview.

On Friday, December 4, Biden said his team had not yet seen a detailed outline of the Trump administration for distributing vaccines to the state, which he called an expensive and difficult process. Slaoui said the government's plans rely on state health agencies to deliver vaccines.

"There is no detailed plan that we see, of how you get the vaccine out of the container, into a syringe, into someone's arm," Biden said.

"I think the plan is there and I feel confident that after we will explain it, everything is in detail. I hope the new transition team will understand that everything has been well planned, "said Slaoui.

The US is struggling with a resurgence in the virus, with record cases and daily death count exceeding 2,000 in recent days. More than 281 thousand Americans have died from the COVID-19 disease.

Trump's refusal to admit defeat to Biden in the 2020 US presidential election led to delays in the transition process. This allowed the White House health adviser's communication with Biden's new team of health advisors to also be delayed. Biden will announce the members of his public health team this week.

Vaccine delivery

Health workers and nursing home residents will be the first group to receive the vaccine after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the expected use of the vaccine in the next week or two. Advisors outside the FDA are scheduled to meet Thursday December 10 to review Pfizer's emergency use of its vaccine.

FDA approval does not guarantee smooth operation. Slaoui told me that the vaccine production effort was more complex and difficult than expected. People who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 will start seeing the impact of the vaccine in January or February, Slaoui said.

"We may be six or eight weeks behind the ideal scenario, where we have 100 million doses by the end of this year," he said. "But we're not far from that."

With the winter holiday season approaching, health experts are pleading with the US public not to ignore health protocols such as wearing masks, exercising social distancing and avoiding large gatherings.

Deborah Birx, who serves on the White House's COVID-19 task force, said public health officials must combat the Trump administration's erroneous message about masks and other mitigation measures.

“I want to be straightforward with the American people. Vaccines are very important. But it will not save us from a spike in cases, "he said." Only we can save us from this spike in cases. "