On Friday, May 15, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the launch of Operation Warp Speed, a new initiative that would combine the efforts of various government departments and federal agencies, along with private firms and the U.S. military, to develop, manufacture and distribute a “proven” coronavirus vaccine. The government pledged roughly $10 billion for the effort through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to support the medical research, including funding for vaccine development, therapeutics and diagnostics. Trump added that the administration had already narrowed vaccine candidates from 100 to 14 and that “we’d love to see if we can do it prior to the end of theyear.” “Warp speed,” a term popularized by the 1960s television show Star Trek, came to mean faster than-light speed. But over the ensuing decades, the phrase has evolved to simply describe the highest possible speed. The spread of the novel SARS coronavirus-2 from a market in Wuhan China to countries worldwide occurred within a matter of months – seemingly with the highest possible speed. The velocity of spread of the virus demanded equally rapid responses, which have come in the form of economic shutdowns, new technology developments and all-encompassing mitigation efforts.