Texas A&M tabbed to help develop COVID-19 vaccine, per president Donald Trump

The race is on to produce a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. As millions of people across the United States (and globally) become infected, a vaccine will help slow the spread and return life to as normal as possible.

On Monday, president Donald Trump announce which facilities would receive money for “Operation Warp Speed,” which aims to have millions of doses of vaccine ready by the end of 2020.

And, among those facilities, one at Texas A&M will receive $265 million to develop the vaccine (via KBTX.com):

The order supports Operation Warp Speed, which aims to begin delivering millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines candidates are safe and effective.

“These same manufacturing processes are being conducted on an even larger scale in College Station, Texas,” said Trump. “Today, I’m proud to announce that HHS has just signed a $265 million contract with the Fujifilm Texas A&M Innovation Center, which is quite the place, to dramatically expand their vaccine manufacturing capacity.”

The important thing isn’t who develops a vaccine. Rather, it’s about developing one in general. The U.S. is betting on a few institutions to get the job done.

Now, the folks at A&M will get to work with their new federal money.