Deliver a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine in less than a year? Impossible. Meet Moncef Slaoui.

As science adviser of Operation Warp Speed, the veteran pharmaceutical executive helped usher a coronavirus vaccine to the US market in record time.

In 2009, a flu pandemic was racing across the world when a venture capital firm that backs health care companies held its annual retreat. The meeting was a who's who of pharmaceutical and biotechnology executives – the top leaders of the top companies in the world.

One man pulled together a group of his peers and issued a directive: "We are going to work together to...