President Trump touring Morrisville FUJIFILM facility working on COVID-19 vaccine Monday
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- As one of the many states with rising coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations, North Carolina realizes the need for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Businesses in the Triangle are doing their part to fight the novel coronavirus and President Donald Trump is taking notice.
Trump is set to tour the FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies' Innovation Center in Morrisville on Monday afternoon. Trump is scheduled to arrive in the Triangle at 2:30 p.m. and be shown the Bioprocess Innovation Center around 3 p.m. His arrival will be streamed live on ABC11.com and the ABC11 Facebook page.
Drivers should expect road closures and delays near the facility, which is off McCrimmon Parkway.
WATCH: What to know about President Trump's visit to FUJIFILM facility
Employees at FUJIFILM are working on key elements of a potential vaccine, from the drug maker Novavax. Novavax was awarded $1.6 billion under Operation Warp Speed--the U.S. government's program to mass-produce an effective treatment.
President Trump will be required to wear a mask when he tours the facility with a small number of staff members. The building opened in 2016 and is three-stories and 62,000 square feet. The North Carolina facility employs 500 of the company's 2,500 total employees worldwide.
SEE ALSO | President's visit proof Triangle is on the cutting edge of pandemic research
Trump's trip to Morrisville comes just months out from Election Day and is his first public event in North Carolina since the eve of the March 3 presidential primary. In 2016, Trump won North Carolina's 15 electoral votes by nearly 4 percentage points.
