FILE - President Donald Trump unsuccessfully attempts to crush a Corning Valor glass protective vial with Wendell P. Weeks, right, chairman and chief executive officer of Corning Glass, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 20, 2017.
Corning Inc. said Tuesday it will increase production of glass vials for anticipated coronavirus vaccines after announcing it would receive $204 million from the U.S. government's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
Corning is a technology company specializing in glass science, ceramics science and optical physics.
Under the agreement, the company will "substantially expand its domestic manufacturing capacity" of Corning Valor Glass vials.
The $204 million initiative comes as a part of Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership to facilitate the development, manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 countermeasures, a program President Donald Trump announced early May.
According to Corning, its Valor Glass vials are meant to offer superior chemical durability, minimize particulate pollution and enhance product quality. The vial's design also will allow for accelerated filling and capping of its contents, "increasing manufacturing throughput by as much as 50% on conventional filling lines."
The Centers for Disease Control said, "There are few immunization issues more important than the appropriate storage and handling of vaccines," pointing to the possibility of thousands of dollars in cost to deal with storage and handling errors.
The recent funding move by BARDA comes days after the Trump administration selected five companies to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus: Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck & Co.