Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours a research lab at McGill University prior to an announcement of the opening of a Moderna vaccine production and research facility in Montreal, Friday, April 29, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
LAVAL, Que. – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today took part today in a groundbreaking ceremony for biotechnology company Moderna’s new mRNA vaccine factory in Laval, Que., a suburb of Montreal.
The factory is expected to be completed in 2024 at the earliest and produce 100 million doses of mRNA vaccines per year.
It will manufacture vaccines against COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses, including influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
Trudeau was accompanied by several provincial and federal politicians today, including federal Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
The prime minister told reporters that Moderna’s new factory represents an investment in the health-care security of Canadians and also in a research ecosystem that will deliver good jobs for years to come.
Champagne says Canada has committed to purchase a certain number of vaccines from the factory, but he didn’t provide details.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2022.
