WASHINGTON: The chief adviser for U.S. efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine said on Sunday he planned to meet with President-elect Joe Biden this week to discuss the program before the expected first round of vaccinations in the country later this month.
Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser to the U.S. government`s Operation Warp Speed initiative, said he has not yet met with Joe Biden, who last week criticized the Trump administration`s COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan.
"We really look forward to it because actually things have been really very appropriately planned," Slaoui said in an interview with CBS` "Face the Nation."
Biden said on Friday his team had not seen a detailed outline from the Trump administration to distribute a coronavirus vaccine to various states, which he called an expensive and difficult process.
"There is no detailed plan that we`ve seen, anyway, as to how you get the vaccine out of a container, into an injection syringe, into somebody`s arm," Biden said.
Slaoui said part of the confusion may be that the government`s plan relies on state health agencies to deliver the vaccine.
"I think the plans are there and I feel confident that once we will explain it, everything in detail. I hope the new transition team will understand that things are well planned," he told the CBS program.
The United States is struggling with a resurgence of the virus, with record infections and a daily death toll that has exceeded 2,000 in recent days. More than 281,000 Americans have died from the COVID-19 disease, according to a Reuters tally.
President Donald Trump`s refusal to acknowledge his loss to Biden in the Nov. 3 presidential election caused a delay in the transition process that allowed White House health advisers to communicate with the new Biden health advisory team.
Biden was due to announce members of his public health team this week.
