COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M has been awarded a 265 million dollar contract by President Trump to prepare a vaccine for COVID-19.
Nearly a decade ago, the Texas A&M University System was chosen to mass produce vaccines in the event a pandemic would strike. It was one of just three facilities in the country chosen to serve the masses.
Now with the coronavirus, the university says it’s ready to act.
“This weekend we finalized the contract with BARDA where they agreed to pay 260 million to reserve space specifically for a vaccine currently in clinical trials called Novavax," said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp.
Clinical trials are currently in Phase Two and are taking place at the Fujifilm facility in North Carolina.
“We’re ready. The facility is ready to meet the needs of the federal government, the time is now, the contractor is in place, and we’ll manufacture the vaccine when the federal government approves it," said Chancellor Sharp.
The facility at A&M in College Station was created after the SARS outbreak more than 10 years ago.
“The CIADM which stands for Center of Innovation and Advanced Development Manufacturing was kind of birthed out of assessment at how the government responded to that 09’ pandemic," said CIADM Vice Chancellor of research Jon Mogford
The chancellor says the facility is already staffed and ready to go. It is not lacking in any resources and will act once the government gives its approval.
“Base upon a reasonable expression, they could easily crank out approximately a hundred million doses between now and the end of the year," said CIADM chief manufacturing officer Jay Treat.
Chancellor Sharp calls the contract and the relationships it builds a win for everyone.
“The reason we applied for this facility to begin with, is part of the service mission that we believe TAMU and system is all about, and we’re going to have the opportunity we believe to save hundreds of thousands of lives in the country, perhaps the world. We’ll manufacture what the federal government wants and ship it to them and they’ll decide where it goes," said Chancellor Sharp.
President Trump’s order means the facility at A&M will be reserved to help with the development and mass production of the COVID-19 vaccine until the end of 2021.