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A federal agreement with GlaxoSmithKline will produce millions of doses in Ste-Foy.
The GlaxoSmithKline plant where flu vaccines are produced in Ste-Foy. Photo by Jacques Boissinot / The Canadian Press
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In anticipation of future flu pandemics, the Canadian government has reached a new agreement with pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline to ensure access to flu vaccines.
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The contract was announced on Friday by Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos at GSK’s Ste-Foy facility, where the vaccines will be produced.
The agreement requires GSK to be able to provide up to 80 million doses of pandemic flu vaccine (assuming a two-dose regimen) a year if necessary, and guarantees a minimum of four million annual doses of flu vaccine. seasonal for use in publicly funded programs. with the first deliveries scheduled for this fall.
The agreement will run for four years, with the option to be extended for five one-year periods.
“We are prepared for future flu pandemics,” Duclos said Friday. “The new contract signed with GSK will allow Canada to continue to have safe access to the flu vaccine manufactured here in Quebec.”
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GSK, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, is the only self-sufficient Canadian producer of flu vaccines, Duclos said. In preparing for the flu pandemic through the company, “we can make sure that Canada’s supply is not jeopardized by closed borders, trade or transportation problems.”
The value of the contract was not disclosed for reasons of confidentiality.
Duclos said Canada has invested $ 1.8 billion in 32 biofabrication-related projects, including vaccines and other drugs, to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to a pandemic. This includes an investment of more than $ 450 million in 11 projects in Quebec.
The struggles Canada has faced in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic remind us that we must be prepared to face future health crises, Duclos said.
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“It is true not only for the protection of our system, but also for the protection of our health workers, and also, as we have seen over the past two years, for the protection of our economic well-being but also of our social fabric. . “If there is only one lesson to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the paramount importance of vaccination.”
Duclos said that according to some estimates vaccines against COVID-19 saved about 20 million lives worldwide in 2021 alone.
The new flu deal with GSK, which continues a 20-year relationship between the parties for these vaccines, would have progressed even without the current pandemic, Duclos said.
“We certainly would have wanted to do that, because we’ve known for a long time that seasonal flu is with us; it will be for a long time,” he said. “The flu pandemic appears every 10 or 40 years, the last time was with H1N1 in 2009, so it’s been 13 years.
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“With climate change, with frequent contacts with natural spaces, deforestation, urbanization, with rapid and frequent movements through countries and regions, this type of virus evolves faster and, by extension, also affects populations more quickly, so we should have done it. “
COVID-19 has illustrated how pandemics can be harmful, Duclos added, which has allowed the government to move forward with the agreement with more confidence.
Ranya El-Masri, vice president of government affairs and market access at GSK Canada, said the deal “is of the utmost importance to us.”
“(This) guarantees Canadians that they will have access to seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines with a product made right here in Ste-Foy, Quebec, Canada,” he said. “I am very proud of the work we do at GSK to protect children and adults through immunization.”
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Duclos said the flu vaccination campaign this fall will be especially important, as COVID-19 is still present and the health care system is already struggling.
“The combination of these two respiratory diseases will require us to be especially efficient and united when it comes time to protect ourselves,” he said, adding that Canada has a lower vaccine rate for reinforcements than all other countries. of the G7, except the United States. , despite having surpassed most other countries for the first two doses.
“Throughout the pandemic, we have seen that vaccines are the best way to protect ourselves, to protect our family, to protect our co-workers,” Duclos said.
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