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This is such a yarn. This facility has been in the works since the Summer, and is still *months* away from being completed, let alone operational. The previous plan involved the facility producing the Astrazeneca vaccine — now, magically, it's Novavax! https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canada-nearing-deal-to-start-domestic-production-of-covid-19-vaccines/
Do not expect Canada to produce any significant quantities of a COVID-19 vaccine before the fall, at the absolute earliest. We wrote about some of the pitfalls of this let's-build-it-ourselves plan at the National Research Council. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-feds-passed-over-private-option-with-plans-to-produce-covid-19-vaccine/
This passage is also telling:
"[Ottawa/NRC] have been in talks with all the front-running vaccine makers in the world for months, trying to lure at least one of them to make some of their vaccines at the new facility...None of those talks have borne any fruit until now."
"[Ottawa/NRC] have been in talks with all the front-running vaccine makers in the world for months, trying to lure at least one of them to make some of their vaccines at the new facility...None of those talks have borne any fruit until now."
Oh, sorry, it was La Presse who reported the deal was for sure going to Novavax: https://www.lapresse.ca/covid-19/2021-02-02/bientot-un-vaccin-produit-a-montreal.php
Trudeau blew into Montreal last summer, promising this facility would be pumping out "two million doses per month by next year" Cool!
Today, the building isn't even finished. Meanwhile, an unused vaccine facility sits idle next door. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-president-of-montreal-company-pnuvax-says-ottawa-passed-on-its-offer/
Today, the building isn't even finished. Meanwhile, an unused vaccine facility sits idle next door. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-president-of-montreal-company-pnuvax-says-ottawa-passed-on-its-offer/
Ottawa's position on this Pnuvax facility, if you can decipher it, is that it's just not well-suited! Or maybe they just don't like the company.
But the alternative has been to build a whole new facility, from the ground up, through a Montreal winter. How is that better?
But the alternative has been to build a whole new facility, from the ground up, through a Montreal winter. How is that better?
In the House of Commons, the Conservatives tried to get answers about why PnuVax wasn't chosen to be, at least, a part of the vaccine plan. Here's the inscrutable answer.
While we're on the subject: I filed an Access to Information request to the Public Health Agency of Canada regarding the Cansino vaccine project that got scuttled.
Apparently it wasn't the subject of much interest internally. #cdnfoi
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Apparently it wasn't the subject of much interest internally. #cdnfoi
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Industry Minister Champagne just now insisted Novavax "chose Canada." Which is pretty brassy, as:
-The vaccine is not yet approved
-Ottawa has been trying to find a production partner for months
-The facility isn't even done
-Novavax is producing in multiple countries
-The vaccine is not yet approved
-Ottawa has been trying to find a production partner for months
-The facility isn't even done
-Novavax is producing in multiple countries
Champagne further added that “this agreement could see other countries seeking biomanufacturing help from Canada.” Which is, again, quite a bold thing to say about a facility that isn't even fully built yet.
Champagne reveals that construction on this new facility will be *end of the summer* then "a couple of months" to get GMP status, so: "We expect by the end of the year to be in a position to produce vaccines."
So there will be no vaccines in September. Maybe December.
So there will be no vaccines in September. Maybe December.