Vaccines save lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Canadians came together, rolled up their sleeves and got their shots. And because of this teamwork, we got through the pandemic. But as we look back on the past few years, one thing is clear – we need to make more vaccines here in Canada, and we need to be able to make them fast.
Today, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, attended the official opening of Sanofi’s new state-of-the-art Vaccine Manufacturing Facility in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a federal investment of $20 million, the facility will be one of the most advanced vaccine manufacturing facilities in the world.
As the largest biomanufacturing facility in Canadian history, it will help the company expand the production of its life-saving vaccines. It will produce whooping cough, tetanus, and diphtheria vaccines for Canada and 60 international markets. And it will create over 200 good-paying jobs as well as support and maintain over 1000 other jobs in Ontario.
We’re investing in biomanufacturing, enabling breakthrough science, creating jobs, and producing the life-saving medicines that’ll keep Canadians healthy, right here in Canada. It’s a win for public health, a win for science, a win for our innovators and researchers, and a win for Canadian families.
And we’re not stopping there. This is just the first of two advanced vaccine manufacturing facilities the company is building in Toronto, Ontario. With a $415 million investment from our Strategic Innovation Fund, we’re helping Sanofi build a new end-to-end flu vaccine manufacturing facility. Once operational, this facility will be able to produce enough vaccine doses to protect our entire population within six months of a pandemic flu strain being identified by the World Health Organization. This will make sure we’re better prepared for health emergencies, better protected against outbreaks, and better placed to get vaccines to Canadians, faster.
Strengthening our biomanufacturing and life sciences sector across the country will help re-establish Canada’s vaccine manufacturing capability, get them to families faster, and give our health scientists a fair chance to make groundbreaking discoveries – all while growing the economy and creating good jobs.