Made-in-Canada Vaccines Lag Behind

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised a Canadian vaccine plant in Montreal. However, four years later, there has been no measurable progress towards this initiative. 

With about $130 million in federal support, the Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC), a publicly owned institution, was constructed on property held by the National Research Council (NRC). While construction was almost complete by June 2021 and quickly certified by Health Canada in July 2022, the facility has yet to produce vaccines at scale for patient use. Despite continuous yearly funding of $17 million from the NRC for maintenance and housekeeping, the BMC has not fulfilled its intended purpose. Although it has encountered multiple setbacks, the American company Novavax, which was chosen to produce its vaccines at the BMC, still intends to create COVID medicines created in Canada.

As of May 30, there has been some promising news related to a Sanofi vaccine plant in Toronto, built to manufacture vaccines for whooping cough, diphtheria, and tetanus.

As Pfizer and Moderna dominate the COVID vaccine market and revenues are declining globally, some experts are becoming doubtful of the success of this endeavor. Only 37,343 Novavax shots had been administered in Canada, in comparison to over 70 million Pfizer doses and about 33 million Moderna shots. The BMC's journey to find a partnership has had significant difficulties. After an initial partnership attempt with a Chinese vaccine company did not work out, BMC turned to Novavax. Trudeau announced the change in February 2021, claiming that tens of millions of shots would be produced by that summer. However, this goal still remains unmet today.

Sanofi’s new Toronto Campus

In an attempt to keep the BMC ready for possible public health emergencies or a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, the federal government continues to financially support the organization. However, the longer the plant is idle, the more doubt it produces. A French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, has made an investment in Novavax, which could stabilize business operations and forward vaccine production. However, concerns are still being raised over Novavax's long-term viability due to its past clinical trial failures and financial instability.

Justin Trudeau’s government has previously had issues with public health and COVID-19, including the ArriveCAN incident. ArriveCAN, a mobile app designed to streamline entry to Canada during the pandemic, faced significant backlash due to technical issues and being inefficient. Additionally, the cost of this project ballooned by orders of magnitude compared to what the public was told it would cost. In the end, the facility is still waiting to create its first batch of vaccines, so the promise of a Canadian made vaccine plant remains unfulfilled. It remains to be seen if this ambitious effort will succeed or turn out to be an expensive lesson in public health. 

Resources and further reading:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trudeau-made-in-canada-covid-vaccine-novavax-1.7211462

https://www.conservative.ca/conservative-statement-on-the-end-of-arrivecan-requirements/