Mon­cef Slaoui calls late Oc­to­ber vac­cine roll­out 'ex­treme­ly un­like­ly,' vows again to re­sign un­der un­due po­lit­i­cal in­flu­ence

The sci­en­tif­ic chief of Op­er­a­tion Warp Speed says it’s “ex­treme­ly un­like­ly” — though not im­pos­si­ble — that a po­ten­tial Covid-19 vac­cine will be ready for dis­tri­b­u­tion by late Oc­to­ber. And like CBER leader Pe­ter Marks, he would im­me­di­ate­ly re­sign if “there is un­due in­ter­fer­ence” in the process of clear­ing a vac­cine.

Mon­cef Slaoui made the com­ments in two sep­a­rate in­ter­views with NPR and Sci­ence — rare pub­lic me­dia ap­pear­ances since he came out of re­tire­ment to take the role in May.

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