Lack of Transparency, Conflicts of Interest Surround Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” Vaccine Development Program

USA Today: “How the operation functions, its budget, what power it has and what resources it controls have either not been determined or not been made public”

Trump replaced Inspector General who could have investigated “Operation Warp Speed” following report critical of Administration 

Washington, DC – Today, Patients Over Pharma released the following statement as President Trump’s new “Operation Warp Speed” program approaches its second week of operation with more questions and concerns raised than answers given.

“From Big Pharrma connections to glaring conflicts of interest, lack of transparency, and no assurance that patients or taxpayers will be put ahead of drug company profits – it’s taken less than two weeks for ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to fit right in with the rest of the Trump Administration,” said Eli Zupnick, spokesman for Patients Over Pharma. “With billions of taxpayer dollars and the health of hundreds of millions of Americans at stake, the Trump Administration needs to stop shrouding ‘Operation Warp Speed’ in secrecy and blocking basic transparency, accountability, and oversight.”

Questions regarding “Operation Warp Speed” include: 

1. Why Dr. Moncef Slaoui has been exemptedfrom financial disclosure and conflicts of interest laws.
2. Whether “Operation Warp Speed” will be releasing the contracts signed between the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Sanofi so that people can see what assurances the federal government got for their billions of dollars, if any.
3. Any discussions between Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Dr. Robert Kadlec and officials from Novavax since  Bright expressed concern about interactions violating federal law.
4. Who within the federal government has oversight authority over Operation Warp Speed.

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