The call was tense, the message discouraging. Moncef Slaoui, the head of the Trump administration\u2019s effort to quickly produce a vaccine for the coronavirus, was on the phone at 6 p.m. on Aug. 25 to tell the upstart biotech firm Moderna that it had to slow the final stage of testing its vaccine in humans.<\/p>\n
Moderna\u2019s chief executive, St\u00e9phane Bancel, a French biochemical engineer, recognized the implication. In the race to quell the pandemic, he said, \u201cevery day mattered.\u201d Now his company, which had yet to bring a single product to market, faced a delay of up to three weeks. Pfizer, the global pharmaceutical giant that was busy testing a similar vaccine candidate and promising initial results by October, would take the obvious lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the hardest decision I made this year,\u201d Mr. Bancel said.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Your Sunday must-read is this thriller about the US government, a multinational, and start-up racing to make a COVID-19 vaccine. <\/p>\n It totally shot adrenaline and pride into my American veins and is a crazy-exciting read https:\/\/t.co\/Ek5JxO3vNe<\/a><\/p>\n — Morgan Lee (@Mepaynl) November 22, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n