Ottawa injects uncertainty into support for Winnipeg vaccine facility
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2021 (1859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government is sending mixed messages on whether it wants to shore up COVID-19 vaccine production in Winnipeg.
The U.S. firm Emergent BioSolutions runs a facility near the University of Manitoba campus, and signed a contract late last year to produce a vaccine developed by Calgary-based Providence Therapeutics, which has financial support form the Pallister government but is still pending approval.
In an article published Monday, federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne told the Globe and Mail his government wanted to support the plant’s expansion so Canada can shore up its ability to make vaccines within Canada.
“We’re expanding their facility with them,” Champagne said of the Emergent plant in Winnipeg.
Yet his spokesman walked back those remarks hours later. Champagne’s office said Monday that he wasn’t available for an interview, and that nothing is final.
“Our government is exploring all options to increase domestic capacity for biomanufacturing vaccines and therapies in Canada,” John Power wrote in an email.
“Discussions are underway with several companies in this regard, including Emergent (as the minister noted) which has an existing facility in Winnipeg.”
Emergent and Providence did not respond to interview requests.
Champagne’s office said federal support for any vaccine production, including at the Winnipeg facility, could only involve shots approved by Health Canada.
“The minister was referring to the domestic biomanufacturing of Health Canada-approved vaccines,” Power wrote.
The regulator has so far approved four COVID-19 vaccines, and the Providence shot might not come online until 2022, after Ottawa’s summer target to have all willing adults vaccinated.
The Manitoba government announced a month ago its plans to make a non-refundable $7.2-million down payment to Providence for vaccines, arguing it will shore up domestic capacity, particularly if booster shots are needed.
Champagne and Emergent did not tell the Globe which vaccines the facility might produce.
The Winnipeg plant can do the final steps for various vaccines, but does not produce raw material used at the start of the manufacturing process.
Emergent employs about 350 people in Manitoba.
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca