Covid-19 roundup: HHS may strug­gle to ab­sorb Op­er­a­tion Warp Speed; Eu­rope has no plans for a fourth vac­cine dose

Op­er­a­tion Warp Speed, per­haps the great­est achieve­ment of the for­mer Trump ad­min­is­tra­tion, prompt­ly de­liv­ered Covid-19 vac­cine sup­plies na­tion­wide when they be­came avail­able, thanks to col­lab­o­ra­tions be­tween HHS and the De­part­ment of De­fense, while help­ing to fund and aid the man­u­fac­ture of bil­lions of dos­es.

But since the Biden ad­min­is­tra­tion took over a year ago, act­ing FDA com­mis­sion­er Janet Wood­cock tran­si­tioned out of her role as the ther­a­peu­tics lead in Warp Speed, which has been con­vert­ed in­to a new op­er­a­tion with­out the fan­cy name (now known as the “HHS-DOD COVID-19 Coun­ter­mea­sures Ac­cel­er­a­tion Group”), and as of the start of 2022, the De­part­ment of De­fense is no longer help­ing HHS on the pro­gram.

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