Funding announced for new vaccine production facility in Toronto

TORONTO (NEWS 1130) – A major investment is being made into a new vaccine production facility in Ontario that should help Canada get ready for the next pandemic.

The new facility is being developed in Toronto and will help the country build up our domestic capacity to produce vaccines, after being caught with limited options through the COVID-19 health crisis.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the new facility will mainly be focused on producing influenza vaccines, but it will also have the tools to fill and finish other shots on a mass scale.

“We need to have a strong Canadian biomanufacturing sector. I think everyone would agree with that across our nation, so that when the next pandemic hits — whatever it might be — we will be prepared as a nation,” he said Wednesday.

“As part of this project, Sanofi will build an end to end bulk vaccine manufacturing facility and install a state-of-the-art product formulation, filling, inspection, and packaging, right here in Toronto, and that’s what we call normally the ‘fill and finish’ for those who have heard me talk about increasing our capacity,” Champagne explained.

The facility, which will be located on the Connaught Laboratories site, will not be fully operational until 2026.

French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur will run the centre. It is investing $455 million into this project, which is also receiving $415 million from the federal government.

Meanwhile, the Ontario government is contributing $55 million.

“It is one of the largest-ever biomanufacturing investments that have been done in Canadian industry,” Champagne said.

The project is expected to create or maintain more than 1,200 jobs, including 165 high-skilled positions.

“I can think of all Canadians who are winning today because we will be more resilient as a country, whatever may come next,” the minister said.

Champagne says Sanofi “chose to invest in Canada,” adding the company had the option to go elsewhere.

Vaccines ‘top of mind’

Canada’s minister of health highlights the importance of a long-term plan to access vaccines domestically.

“Listen, I think vaccines are top of mind for all Canadians, indeed the entire world,” Health Minister Patty Hajdu said. “And, of course, this isn’t new. We know that vaccines for a variety of different illnesses save lives all around the world every year.”

Hajdu says Canada procured 16 million doses of influenza vaccines last year alone.

“We have seen the lowest levels of flu ever in our communities,” she said.

The investment won’t just help Canada be prepared for the future, Hajdu says. “This is an investment in fostering and attracting the talent the talent that our country needs to continue to grow the sector,” she explained, adding there are many young people across Canada who are now curious about a future in biomanufacturing, medical sciences, and other related fields.

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