Former US Vaccine Chief Moncef Slaoui Discusses Global Vaccination Progress and Challenges

In recent weeks, several countries, including Morocco, have started the anti-Covid-19 vaccination. According to Moroccan immunologist Moncef Slaoui, "great progress has been made towards the elimination of the pandemic thanks to the use of vaccines". For the one who supervised the development of vaccines in the United States, there is still a long way to go to reach the much-desired immunity.

Based on his experience as an immunologist, he believes that the United States has made enormous progress in terms of vaccine development since the pandemic set in. "Never has a vaccine been discovered, developed, produced, tested, approved in a shorter period than a year. I think that by the end of March, we will have vaccinated the 100 million people most at risk. In Europe, we will have a delay of three or four months," he said.

At the start of the operation, the professor remembers the susceptibilities, hesitations, and discouraging remarks. "All the Democrats said it was impossible. But it’s a great gift to the new administration, of which I am a supporter. I was surprised that politics got mixed up in the pandemic, I had hoped we would be more factual. Creating confusion is always an element that encourages hesitation about vaccines," he stressed, referring to the criticism the Trump administration has been subjected to, especially regarding the management of the pandemic.

In Morocco as in the United States, the population remained skeptical, citing reasons to question the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. But after the start of the vaccination campaign, more serenity and understanding have been recorded. "Today, people are very frustrated because they have to wait for hours to be vaccinated. I think the fact that the vaccines are 95% effective, and that we have vaccinated 30 million people, shows that their safety and effectiveness are excellent, and hesitations are decreasing".

Given the havoc caused by the coronavirus pandemic on the world’s health system, the global economy and the social sphere, Professor Moncef Slaoui calls on countries to urgently fund the fight against pandemics, using for example, a portion of the defense budget. "There will be other pandemics, I hope they will be controlled much faster, with less impact. But all countries have armies in case, whereas viruses are enemies particularly adapted to escape us: so allocating part of the defense budgets to the fight against biological threats seems extremely necessary to me".