Canadians are leading the way in the fight against COVID-19.
The Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Navdeep Bains, explains that in addition to mobilizing Canadian industry, the Federal Government is investing a total of $192 million to mobilize Canadian researchers.
“Canadian labs discovered the Ebola vaccine, and were the first in the world to sequence the DNA for the SARS virus,” says Bains, “…(Then), in 2018, our government invested the largest amount in Canada’s history towards fundamental science. It is those researches who we count on today.”
He tells us that Ottawa has signed a contract to work with a Toronto-based digital health firm called BlueDot, who were among the first in the world to identify the spread of the virus.
“They use artificial intelligence and a range of anonymized data sets, including global air travel, to correctly track the spread of the disease around the world. Now our government will use BlueDot software to support monitoring and modeling (our decisions).”
Bains says that of the money that the Trudeau Government is investing, $23 million has been earmarked for the University of Saskatchewan’s International Vaccine Centre, one of the world’s most advanced infectious disease facilities.
“We’re investing to help the Centre expand and renovate it’s current animal vaccine production facility to meet the standards required for producing human vaccines. This will allow the Centre to produce vaccines for clinic trials, as well to meet early production needs when a vaccine is ready.”
The Minister adds that companies across the country are working on portable COVID-19 testing devices, and software to track the spread of the virus on top of multiple efforts on both a vaccine and other treatment options.
