Moncef Slaoui, Warp Speed’s chief adviser on the operation, resigned as part of a plan to hand over the vaccination effort to President Biden’s coronavirus team.
Slaoui’s resignation, which will take effect next month, according to CNBC, comes as the president-elect has not yet appointed a new chief scientific adviser to the federal government’s vaccine implementation program, which has so far seen just over 9 million Americans receiving the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Representatives of Biden’s transition team did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.
President-elect has appointed Jeffrey Zients as chief business officer and former budget and management officer (OMB) to oversee his response to COVID-19, while Kaiser Permanente’s health director Bechara Chouchair is the coordinator of the Biden vaccine. .
Slaoui has previously said he will step down as soon as two COVID-19 vaccines hit the market, a milestone that was reached last month. He told Politico last week that he had extended his plans to stay until the Biden team no longer needed his assistance.
“I have decided to expand this to ensure that the operation continues to function as it did through the transition of the administration,” Slaoui told reporters.
An official from Biden’s transition team also told Politico that Slaoui would remain temporarily “to ensure the continuity of the work already done and to ensure a smooth process.”
Gender. Gustave Perna told the press in the same conversation that Biden’s team did not ask him to give up overseeing national vaccine distribution efforts.
“I signed up, I’m here until my part of the mission ends or I’m told otherwise,” he said.