As the race for a coronavirus vaccine intensifies, it’s not just a science problem. Most countries, including Canada, are banking on global co-operation.
With dozens of COVID-19 vaccine candidates in development around the world, a massive challenge looms on the horizon: deciding who gets access to a successful vaccine first, and whether countries can produce enough for everyone.
Most countries, including Canada, are banking on global co-operation. But there are already signs that political interference may complicate where the early candidates will be produced, and where the first orders will be sent. In the past, Canada has relied heavily on other countries to help manufacture its vaccines.
South of the border, through a project dubbed Operation Warpspeed, the United States is investing heavily in the race to develop and manufacture a vaccine for its own citizens.
Just this week, the White House invested $1.2 billion US to secure 300 potential doses of a vaccine being developed in the U.K.. And Moderna, an American biotech company, made headlines when it announced its vaccine produced protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers.”We think we’re going to have some very good results coming out very quickly,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House this week. “And they’ll all be [made] here in the U.S.A.”
Finding a vaccine is just the beginning
Currently, Canada’s most promising vaccine candidate is in collaboration with a Chinese company, CanSino Biologics. A research team at Dalhousie University is now working with the Chinese manufacturer to run clinical trials here.
The federal government has also invested $192 million to help create a made-in-Canada vaccine. Two of the companies receiving the funding, Medicago and VIDO-InterVac, are aiming to start human trials by the fall.
But even if a Canadian vaccine is successful, producing enough for all Canadians isn’t a simple task.
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