Trump to visit Triangle Monday to tout virus vaccine development

"This is just really exciting for us. We're so happy to be involved in this," Diosynth Chief Executive Martin Meeson said. "Being able to respond to a global pandemic by having this ability to manufacture [a vaccine] is just a real honor for us."

Novavax's vaccine is in a Phase 1 clinical trial and is expected to progress into Phase 2 in mid-August and Phase 3 in the fall.

The virus has infected nearly 107,000 people in North Carolina since early March, and about 1,750 of them have died.

"We've compressed months' worth of work into just weeks," Meeson said.

After touring the plant, Trump will discuss the collaboration between his administration and the private sector to rapidly develop a vaccine and ensure accelerated manufacturing and distribution once ready, the White House official said.

"Just to have the recognition that the president's going to come on site to learn about what we do is just absolutely fantastic," Meeson said

The trip will be Trump's 10th to North Carolina as president and his first since the pandemic began.