Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the opening of a major vaccine production plant in Toronto Thursday— part of Canada’s efforts to build up the domestic biomanufacturing sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new Sanofi facility is the largest in Canada and is expected to significantly increase Canada’s domestic production of pediatric and adult vaccines for whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that Canada’s domestic production capacity was insufficient to respond to the pandemic emergency, leaving Canada to rely on imported vaccines.
Sanofi, a global biopharmaceutical company, received $415 million from Canada and another $55 million from the Ontario government, to build a flu vaccine and pandemic preparedness plant at its Toronto campus by 2026.
The company says that facility will be ready in 2027.
Between May 2020 and April 2022, Canada promised more than $1.3 billion for 12 new or expanded biomanufacturing plants to make vaccines and antibody treatments.