INDU Committee Report
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Appendix A
Table 1—Timeline of Selected Events about Vaccine Procurement and Biomanufacturing Capacity Development, March 2020 to February 2023
Date |
Event |
Data/Additional Information |
11 March 2020 |
The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 is a pandemic |
N/A |
23 April 2020 |
Funding announcement to support a national medical research strategy to fight COVID-19 |
The Government of Canada announced over $1 billion in funding for this strategy. |
12 May 2020 |
The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and CanSino Biologics Inc. announce a collaboration to advance a vaccine against COVID-19 |
The NRC issued a statement in November 2021 to provide more information about this collaboration, which did not work out. |
16 June 2020 |
First meeting of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force |
Mona Nemer recommended striking this task force. It met 39 times between June 2020 and February 2021. |
23 June 2020 |
First meeting of the COVID-19 Joint Biomanufacturing Subcommittee |
It met 22 times between June 2020 and February 2021. |
24 July 2020 |
Agreement with Moderna |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: 44 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 61 million |
31 August 2020 |
NRC funding announcement to build the Biologics Manufacturing Centre on Royalmount Avenue in Montreal |
On 2 February 2021, the Government of Canada announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Novavax to pursue the production of its COVID-19 vaccine at the Biologics Manufacturing Centre. Construction was completed in June 2021. |
11 September 2020 |
Agreement with Sanofi |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: Up to 72 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 0 Sanofi and the government of Canada are in the process of terminating the contract by mutual consent. |
23 October 2020 |
Agreement with Medicago |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: Up to 76 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 0 |
26 October 2020 |
Agreement with Pfizer |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: 51 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 89 million |
21 November 2020 |
Agreement with AstraZeneca |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: 20 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 20 million |
30 November 2020 |
Agreement with Johnson & Johnson |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: Up to 38 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 9.98 million |
19 January 2021 |
Agreement with Novavax |
Number of doses secured in the initial agreement: Up to 76 million Doses delivered as of 15 February 2023: 9.7 million |
27 July 2021 |
The Government of Canada announces that Canada has received enough doses to vaccinate every eligible person in Canada |
Over 66 million doses received |
28 July 2021 |
Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy is announced |
Budget 2021 provided $2.2 billion to implement this strategy. |
23 November 2021 |
The Government of Canada announces that the first shipments of pediatric vaccine doses have been received |
Initial delivery: 2.9 million doses |
2 March 2022 |
The WHO published a guidance document indicating that the Medicago vaccine candidate was not accepted |
In April 2022, an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that some experts argued that if the WHO approved the vaccine it would violate the spirit of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. |
23 February 2023 |
Mitsubishi Chemical Group announced its decision to cease its operations at Medicago. |
N/A |
Source: Table prepared by the Library of Parliament using data from: Government of Canada, Procuring vaccines for COVID-19, Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Rapport 9 – COVID-19 Vaccines, Office of the Prime Minister of Canada, New support to produce COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in Canada, Government of Canada, Backgrounder – Government of Canada investments in the biomanufacturing, vaccine and therapeutics ecosystem, Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), PSPC responses to questions taken on notice – Standing Committee on Public Accounts – Report 9, COVID-19 Vaccines, of the 2022 Reports 9 and 10 of the Auditor General of Canada, February 2023.