GE: What made “Operation Warp Speed” so unique? The interview has been edited lightly for length and clarity. Government Executive interviewed Mango––one of several individuals to write a book recently with a personal account of the coronavirus response during the first year of the pandemic––on May 3 about Operation Warp Speed and his take on the Trump administration’s pandemic response. The Biden administration renamed and reworked the initiative upon coming into office.
Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, among other companies, accepted federal money to help develop and manufacture their vaccines meanwhile, Pfizer/BioNTech did not, but signed contracts with the government ahead of time to supply their vaccines if proven effective. The Trump administration’s COVID-19 response overall was highly scrutinized and criticized by lawmakers, public health officials, Biden administration officials and others, but even President Biden and then-senior COVID advisor for the Biden White House Andy Slavitt have recognized the work of Operation Warp Speed. If we could do it over again, we probably would have done it a little bit differently.” In the heat of the moment, we didn't realize this would be such an issue. However, “we could have come out and talked extensively about the changing its processes, but not changing its standards, in fact, enhancing its standards for evaluation. “I haven't seen something like that in my lifetime and hopefully it will be a model for government action going forward,” Mango said, of Operation Warp Speed. Paul Mango served as the deputy chief of staff for the Health and Human Services Department from 2019 to 2021, during which he was the HHS secretary’s formal liaison to Operation Warp Speed, so he was heavily involved in all aspects of the initiative that President Trump announced on May 15, 2020.
However, he does think communication could have been better on the front end to convey the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. The federal government’s partnership with industry to develop, manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine in record time could hopefully “be a model for government action going forward,” a top Trump administration official who was involved told Government Executive in an interview. Tune in to the GovExec Daily podcast on Friday, May 13 to hear more from Paul Mango on Operation Warp Speed.
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