Vaccine development centre opens in Saskatoon
The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) Vaccine Development Centre is complete.
“We have the ability to make human and animal vaccines in the same facility and that we are tied into the containment space,” Director and CEO of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization Volker Gerdts said.
VIDO is one of the few biomanufacturing facilities in the world that can provide vaccines under containment level 3. The facility cost $28 million and received federal, provincial and municipal funding.
“We recognized the only way to move beyond the pandemic and keep people safe was through a coordinated, effective immunization campaign that included swift and reliable procurement from our government,” Minister for Prairies Economic Development Daniel Vandal said in a media release.
“At the same time, we are ensuring that Canadians, and the global community, have Canadian-produced vaccines to protect from future infectious disease outbreaks by investing $97.8 million from PrairiesCan since 2018, to help VIDO emerge as a world-class hub of research, development, and vaccine manufacturing capacity.”
VIDO broke ground by being one of the first labs in Canada to isolate the SARS-VoV-2 virus. A VIDO-developed COVID-19 vaccine is currently undergoing trials.
The facility was the first at a Canadian university to create its own COVID-19 vaccine and to enter clinical trials. The COVAC-2 is an alternative to the mRNA vaccines currently being used for immunization in Canada.
The centre will be one of only a few in the world certified for containment Level 3 - used for work with high-risk biological agents and hazards, genetically modified organisms, animals and plants.
“So those pathogens that in the future require containment, we can work with them here, because we are already operating Canada's largest containment facility,” said Gerdts.
VIDO says the centre is its first step in establishing the lab as Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research, which the province says is raising Saskatchewan's profile.
“What this is doing now is bringing their (VIDO) expertise and their impeccable reputation to the human vaccine side,” said Premier Scott Moe. “Expanding beyond just research but expanding into the actual development of those vaccines, production of those vaccines.”
Vandal responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada said it became evident when COVID first hit that there needed to be Canadian production of vaccines.
“In the future, we’re going to be much better prepared as we know that pandemics are going to hit again whether it’s in 2 years or 25 years,” Prairies Economic Development Canada Member of Parliament Dan Vandal said. “They're not going away.”
Currently, VIDO’s centre is classified as containment Level 3. The building is built to containment Level 4 standards and is now working to become certified. That would allow it to work with the most deadly severe human and animal diseases.
Staff include scientists from 25 countries.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.