PRESIDENT Trump’s Operation Warp Speed aims to accelerate the production of coronavirus vaccines to issue out to those living in the US.
The organization is both public and private and works with top leading labs to mass produce a remedy for the virus. Recently, Pfizer announced their vaccine was successful in clinical trials.
What is Operation Warp Speed?
Operation Warp Speed (OWS) was introduced in April of this year during the coronavirus pandemic.
The organization was initiated by the Trump administration and was funded with nearly $10billion through the CARES Act passed by Congress.
General Gustave F. Perna, who served as commanding general of Army Materiel Command, was named Operation Warp Speed chief operating office.
How many vaccines have the US bought?
The US government has ordered approximately 300million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The Trump administration also requested 100million doses from Moderna once they are ready to be distributed.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar believes that the vaccines will be safe once they are ready by 2021.
“In creating a vaccine portfolio for Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration is increasing the likelihood that the United States will have at least one safe, effective vaccine by 2021,” said Azar in an HHS press release.
How much will the vaccines cost?
Due to the CARES Act passed by Congress, the vaccine will be considered a “preventative health service” which means that anyone with insurance will be covered to get it.
As long as the health insurances cover the costs, there will be no co-pay or out of pocket expenses the recipient will have to pay.
The vaccine would have to be recommended by the US Preventive Health Services Taskforce and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) before it would be covered at no cost.
Once it is recommended, insurances will have a period of 15 days to start covering the cost of the immunization as opposed to a year.
For those who do not have insurance, vaccine doses purchased with US taxpayer dollars will still be issued at no cost.
If there is a fee imposed by the providers to issue the vaccine, there will be a reimbursement option available by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund, according to the CDC.
The companies currently working on a vaccine are: Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca–University of Oxford.
According to Microsoft, three hacking groups launched cyber attacks in a disturbing bid to steal coronavirus vaccine secrets.
One of the groups is backed by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin while the other two are from North Korea, Microsoft said.
In addition, pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer said that interim findings from its large-scale clinical trial showed it had 90 percent efficacy in the vaccine they are working on, which was better than expected.
President-elect Joe Biden promised during the presidential campaign that when he takes office he will take measures to curb the spread of the virus.
He claimed he will be guided by science, make testing free and widely available, hire thousands of health workers to undertake contact-tracing, and instruct the CDC to provide constructive advice.
The transition team has released a seven-point plan to combat coronavirus, including implementing “mask mandates nationwide” to get the virus under control.
As of today, there are nearly 10.8million cases of coronavirus in the US and nearly 245k deaths.
Source: Read Full Article