XPost: la.general, talk.politics.mideast, alt.journalism.newspapers
XPost: atl.general
Canada wasn’t at the front of line for a coronavirus vaccine,
but Canadians didn’t have to wait too long before they finally
gained access, despite not having any manufacturing capabilities.
"Canada is not at the back of the line," said Noubar Afeyan, co-
founder and chairman of Moderna on Rosemary Barton Live on CBC a
few weeks ago.
The Canadian government made procurement deals in August, when
the vaccine's viability was relatively unknown, seems to be a
risk that seems to now be paying off according to Moderna’s
chairman.
"The people who were willing to move early on with even less
proof of the efficacy have assured the amount of supply they
were willing to sign up for," Afeyan said.
Why couldn’t Canada be first?
Now that some vaccine doses have arrived, the conversation has
partly shifted from arrival time to Canada’s limited production
capacity when it comes to making vaccines. It started with the
privatization efforts led by former Prime Minister Brian
Mulroney, who’s government sold Connaught Labs in 1986.
“Thirty years ago, we were pretty good, Connaught Labs was our
biggest producer - we were world class,” said Dr. Earl Brown, a
virology and microbiology expert at the University of Ottawa.
The sale of Connaught Labs and the failure to course correct
with emergence of SARS-CoV, H1N1 or HIV has loomed over Canada
for decades and is now displayed during the pandemic. As a
result, the Trudeau government has to rely on purchasing
vaccines from seven different countries, and has secured 414
million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
“None of the vaccines proposed are ones we can make in Canada in
quantity, because we just don't have any production facilities
really anywhere in Canada,” said Brown.
The National Research Council is set to be retrofitted to be
able to produce smaller doses of the coronavirus vaccine, which
it would need approval for, but construction has been delayed by
months. Much of technology in Canada is not set for synthetic
vaccines according to Brown, so any new developments will need
to be ready to work on, if they invest in vaccine production.
“We gotta have a vaccine platform. We have to build something on
the ground, but we have to be careful. We don't fight today's
war with yesterday's weapons,” he said.
In April 2010, the Conservative Party of Canada decided to
cancel the production of an $88-million dollar HIV vaccine pilot
production facility. Winnipeg International Centre for
Infectious Diseases had been named as the successful bid the
year prior, but before shovels could get in the ground, the
project was dead and gone.
At the time, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) officials
cited a lack of scientific, technical and sustainability
criteria outlined in the request for proposals by all bidders,
and felt it had found capacity to produce the vaccine elsewhere.
“You make your bed, you live in it, you sleep in it and in
Canada, there's no vaccine companies. So that's the way it is,”
said Brown.
Complacency rules the day
It wasn’t just in 2010 that Canada made the wrong decision when
it came to vaccine production, but the decades prior, Brown
points to a lack of funding for research within the field. He
noted that there was an air of complacency around emerging
viruses, and nobody expected we’d be living in a pandemic of
this scale.
“I think we felt very complacent about infectious disease. We
think if a problem comes up we can solve it, but problems don’t
tell you how fast or how big they’re going to be,” he said.
But, that attitude seems to be changing, and Brown thinks it
needs to be, especially as infectious disease specialists
predict more viral outbreaks to occur in the upcoming years.
“We're going to be living in the age of emerging diseases a bit
more here and we gotta be ready to fight that,” he said.
While there is finger pointing from Conservatives and Liberals
alike about why Canada wasn’t first in the pecking order when it
comes to a vaccine, Brown is quick to remind them that being
amongst the first group is a big win.
“We want to be able to get the vaccine to Canadian in a timely
manner. Whether we're 1st, 2nd or 10th, we're fairly close. We
can't be choosers,” said Brown.
Frankly speaking, some of the attitudes about Canada deserving
and wanting to be first have shocked Brown, who points to
Canada’s desire to balance the budget while sacrificing
investment in public health, microbiology research and
production facilities.
“We did the expedient thing, which saved nickels and dimes in
the past, but now we’ve got a pandemic. Don't demand other
people fix our problems, be a little bit more stoic about it and
maybe be a little bit more humble,” said Brown.
What can Canada do to improve in another health crisis?
While the Canadian government has made promises to up its
investments in public health, Brown admits he’d like to see the
same be done for medical health research and production
facilities. He said that solely putting all the funding into
public health won’t solve problems, and Canada has great
scientists and now is the time to incentivize them to stay home.
“We've got great science in this country. We've got people who
know what to do, we know how to enable them, now we have to
organize them,” said Brown.
While it’s been a long time since Canada made grand-scale
investments, Brown thinks it’s clear as day that the Trudeau
government should invest in vaccine production facilities.
“It's clear as day that Canada needs to invest in vaccine
production similar to how they should be investing in public
health. I think we should have the capability for vaccine
production, We should have the infrastructure to make vaccines
at the drop of a hat,” said Brown.
https://news.yahoo.com/vaccine-production-canada-204304881.html
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