Doug Ford gives Moderna $4M to boost vaccine manufacturing in Ontario
Premier Doug Ford is injecting $4 million into Moderna to boost production of vaccines in Ontario and improve readiness in the event of another crippling health crisis.
As the COVID-19 pandemic taught us when it comes to being ready for emergencies of any kind ... we need to be self-sufficient," Ford said Thursday in Cambridge.
To that end, Queen's Park is giving Moderna, which is partnering with Novocol Pharma, $4 million toward the private companies' multimillion dollar" investment in the province.
The firms, which have not yet specifically announced how much they are spending, will expand manufacturing capacity in Cambridge for the preparing and packaging" of respiratory mRNA vaccines that will be distributed across Canada.
This partnership will create good paying jobs in Cambridge and surrounding regions is a huge vote of confidence in Ontario, our economy and in our skilled workforce," said Ford, who praised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for working with the province during and after the pandemic.
That's why our government partnered with the federal government with 3M Canada to build a state of the art manufacturing facility in Brockville that's producing 50 million made-in-Ontario N95 masks every year," the premier said.
We have a phenomenal relationship with the federal government when we collaborate and co-operate. We do amazing things together," he said of his Progressive Conservatives' partnership with Trudeau's Liberals.
Patricia Gauthier, president and general manager of Moderna Canada, noted she was the company's first employee in this country in late 2020 and now there are more that 40" across the nation.
It was one of the first countries where Moderna established a local team," said Gauthier of a pharma company that became a well-known brand around the world at the height of the global pandemic that hit Canada in March 2020.
Moderna will now be able to deliver domestic end-to-end mRNA vaccine production, ensuring Canadians have secure onshore direct access to our mRNA vaccines for future pandemic and health emergencies," she said.
Mindful of concerns over the short supply of personal protective equipment early in the health crisis, Ford and Trudeau have been plowing government money into the life-sciences sector.
The province says that has contributed to international pharma companies investing more than $3 billion in the past two and half years.
Robert Benzie is the Star's Queen's Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie