OTTAWA: Canada’s ability to defeat COVID-19 depends on the development, production, and distribution of an effective and proven vaccine.
That is why the Government of Canada is working closely with researchers and scientists to better understand the virus and protect the health of Canadians.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was at the National Research Council Canada in Montreal to announce that agreement in principle have been reached with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax to procure millions of doses of experimental COVID‑19 vaccines.
These agreements add to those already reached with Pfizer and Moderna, which were made following the recommendations of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force. With these additional agreements in place, Canada has now secured access to four of the leading vaccine candidates.
The government will continue to negotiate and sign other agreements with a number of leading pharmaceutical companies, to ensure the supply of potential vaccines in Canada.
The Prime Minister also announced funding to establish a new biomanufacturing facility at the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Montréal.
Through a public-private partnership, the new building will enable the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to increase vaccine manufacturing to up to two million doses per month by next year. This will help ensure our country’s ability to produce enough doses of the vaccine for Canadians who need them, such as front line workers, long-term care workers, and those at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract COVID-19.
The Government of Canada will continue to explore and pursue all promising options to ensure the supply of potential vaccines and better protect the health and safety of Canadians.
Trudeau said: “As we continue to work together to limit the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of Canadians, as well as its social and economic effects, we must also maximize our chances of defeating the virus. To do this, we need to invest in the development of several promising vaccines…that we can manufacture and distribute the vaccine to as many Canadians as possible, as quickly as possible. That is how we will move forward on a sustainable path to a full recovery.”
Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said: “Our government is committed to delivering safe and effective treatments and vaccines against COVID-19. We must therefore grow our biomanufacturing capacity here in Canada. The funding announced today for this new facility will help the NRC increase the production of potential vaccine doses to up to two million per month. It will also help manufacture vaccines for clinical trials and priority populations.”
Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health, added: “We will continue to ensure that the Government of Canada is doing everything possible to make a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine available to Canadians. Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in our efforts to protect Canadians from COVID-19 as soon as possible.”
In another development this week, the NRC announced it had given up on its partnership with Chinese company CanSino Biologics because Beijing continued to block shipments of vaccine materials to Canada. The NRC was allotted $44-million since late March to upgrade its production capacity in anticipation of the necessary supplies coming from CanSino, which is a company funded by Beijing and which is manufacturing a vaccine in association with the People’s Liberation Army.
Canada’s Vaccine Task Force, constitued in August includes vaccine and immunology experts, as well as industry leaders with a proven ability in developing and commercializing vaccines.
The co-chairs are Joanne Langley, Head of Infectious Diseases at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax and Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at Dalhousie University, and J. Mark Lievonen, former President of Sanofi Pasteur Limited in Canada.