Roundup: Domestic vaccine production…eventually

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There was a sliver of positive news yesterday, when it was announced that the federal government had signed a deal with Novavax to produce their vaccine in the future National Research Council facility in Montreal. The catch? That facility won’t be completed construction until summer, and then it will require Health Canada approval, so it may not be able to produce new doses until the end of the year – at which point, most Canadians should already be vaccinated using the Pfizer and Moderna doses we’ve contracted for. That doesn’t mean this facility still won’t be for naught – it’s possible we will need booster shots for the other vaccines, possibly do deal with different variants (and Novavax has shown success with the B.1.1.7 variant first spotted in the UK), and it also means that we will be able to produce for export to other countries who will need it.

Of course, this started back in on the same questions about why we weren’t able to produce vaccines domestically earlier, and why this plant is taking so long. Of course, this plant is actually moving faster than is usual – Good Manufacturing Practices facilities to produce vaccines usually take two or three years to build, not a single year, and there are several other facilities under construction across the country for other vaccine candidates. As for the same questions about why we didn’t contract to produce other vaccines here, it was because there were no suitable facilities – particularly from the approved ones. (This NRC facility was in talks to produce the AstraZeneca vaccine, but there is also talk about why the PnuVax facility in Montreal has not yet been tapped – but it may yet be for a future candidate once approved). And for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, we simply didn’t have facilities in this country that could produce mRNA vaccines to scale (most existing mRNA production was on a single-dose system for tailored vaccines used for treating particular cancers). And these are things we a) can’t build overnight, and b) didn’t know were even viable because it’s a new technology that had not yet been approved for a vaccine, especially on the scale of the one we’re dealing with now. It would have been a hell of a gamble to build a facility to GMP standards for a vaccine technology that may not have panned out.

Why I’m particularly annoyed about the return of these questions – particularly from the likes of Jagmeet Singh as he appeared on platforms like Power & Politics – is that they pretend that any vaccine facility can produce any vaccine, ignoring that not all vaccines are created equally, or that the technology to produce vaccines isn’t different across platforms. Singh’s notion that a nationalised vaccine producer should have been able to handle this is also farcical because again, what platform would it have bet on? All of them? It’s ridiculous and dishonest – as have been the demands to make the vaccine procurement contracts public (which no other country has done), because all that would do is allow other countries to look at what we paid, and then offer the companies more money to break the contracts with us. (And FFS, both Singh and Erin O’Toole are lawyers and should know this). The kinds of point-scoring that is taking place right now is getting to be beyond the pale, and it’s obscuring the actual kinds of accountability we should be practicing.

Good reads:

  • As Alberta and Quebec make plans to ease restrictions, Dr. Theresa Tam is warning that we can’t let new COVID variants take hold and spread like wildfire.
  • Over a million of the special syringes that can help extract a sixth dose from Pfizer vials are being delivered this week, with millions more arriving soon after.
  • The EU says it has already authorised vaccine exports to Canada, and that its new controls are only expected to be used in “very limited cases.”
  • A formal harassment complaint has been filed at Rideau Hall, following the workplace report on the toxic work environment there.
  • The federal government is trying to appeal the Federal Court decision that struck down the Safe Third Country Agreement with the Americans.
  • Now that he’s retired, former Chief of Defence Staff is now subject to allegations of inappropriate conduct with two female subordinates, including a relationship.
  • The military’s fleet of tanker and VIP transport planes isn’t expected to be replaced until 2028-29, but their best-before date is March 2027.
  • Not to be outdone, our planned new surface combatants are being delayed yet again because of “unexpected design and construction challenges.”
  • The Royal Canadian Navy intends to release a sailor that has a white supremacist history after previously saying they would try for rehabilitation.
  • The mandatory minimum sentences on the books are a mish-mash as courts work their way in striking most of them down, requiring a legislative solution.
  • The document dump requested by the health committee turned up an unusual email exchange that showed the minister’s office helping craft a friendly QP “question.”
  • Jagmeet Singh’s latest plan to intrude on provincial jurisdiction is calling for national standards on school safety in the pandemic, and I just cannot even.
  • In BC, a medical officer withdrew 200 doses of vaccine intended for a remote First Nation and took them back to Vancouver, after referring to the as a “gift.”
  • Kady O’Malley’s Process Nerd column recaps the annual standing orders debate, which took place on Monday night. (This would have outraged me if I watched it).
  • Heather Scoffield worries about vaccine nationalism, and whether we’ll see a repeat of attempts by countries to hoard supplies of vaccines like they did PPE.
  • Colby Cosh offers a meditation on vice-regal appointments, committees, accountability, and the potential for embarrassment from any of them.
  • My column looks at the discussions on the Senate rules post-Beyak, and why the calls to have someone who can investigate claims of racism may be misguided.

Odds and ends:

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4 thoughts on “Roundup: Domestic vaccine production…eventually”

  1. I’m reading that there are now several vaccines under development in Canada, but most are lagging far behind those that have been approved so far. I have also heard developers wishing they had more public support for their efforts. A good question would be why didn’t we invest more in Canadian vaccine development at the beginning, as well as hedge our bets with offshore suppliers?
    Even if some didn’t work out, money spent on Canadian research will eventually produce a dividend.

    • When you have a large preponderance of the right leaning governments and media that endorse them in this country who basically believe that the governments should keep taxes low and provide minimal support for the public good they would lead the charge of spreading disinformation that support for this would be a waste of taxpayer’s money. The trouble is that a lot of gullible Canadians would have believed their story and as a result the federal government in a minority situation had to be very careful in doling out even more federal money.

    • They did invest in several Canadian options from the start, but they are slower and many of them needed new facilities as well, and all of that takes more time.

  2. F— the Globe and Fail. This is a coordinated hit campaign aimed at taking down Trudeau over things that are outside his purview. There are EIGHTY THOUSAND vaccines sitting in Doug Ford’s ice cream fridge and NOBODY is calling him out on that!!!

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