Doctor leading push for COVID-19 vaccine expects results from Moderna trial next week

ATLANTA — The man helping lead the federal government’s push for a coronavirus vaccine visited Atlanta on Thursday for an update on a vaccine trial here.

Dr. Moncef Slaoui stopped by the Moderna coronavirus vaccine trials, which are happening at Emory University.

In an exclusive interview with Channel 2′s Justin Wilfon, Slaoui said he expects Moderna to announce preliminary findings from the trial next week.

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“I would expect next week, we would have some information. I’m very excited about it," he said. "I am very optimistic, frankly, since the beginning I was optimistic.”

Slaoui serves as the chief adviser for Operation Warp Speed. It is a federal government effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine as quickly and safely as possible.

He believes the Moderna results will look just as good as the results from the Pfizer trial. Earlier this week, Pfizer announced that its vaccine could be more than 90% effective.

“Just very, very high effectiveness. I was absolutely exhilarated. I was very happy. Because that data shows first that vaccination against this virus is possible. Second that that level of vaccination can really help get us back to a normal life," Slaoui said.

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While he believes the first Americans will get the vaccine a month from now, he still worries that many others will refuse to take it.

“I am extremely concerned. I’m very concerned that it has become politicized,” Slaoui said.

Channel 2 spoke earlier this week with a local participant in the Pfizer trial about the early findings.

“The whole point was to make sure this vaccine could work, so having a 90% effective rate, really made me happy. Like I had played a really small role in that as well,” Ashley Nealy said.

Earlier Thursday, Gov. Brian Kemp gave an update on what Georgia is doing to prepare for a vaccine when it’s ready to distribute.

“Some of the vaccines will have one dose, some two. Lots of logistics involved talking to hospitals and others, but yes, they are already planning for the cold storage,” Kemp said.

The governor said there’s a task force and national guard working to deploy the vaccine when it’s ready.

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Cox Media Group