Province contributing $4-million for vaccine manufacturing expansion in Cambridge, Ont.

The Ontario government is spending $4-million to support a partnership that will see vaccine manufacturing expanded in Cambridge, Ont.

Premier Doug Ford along with Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones and Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade of Ontario Vic Fedeli made the announcement in Cambridge on Thursday morning.

The province said Moderna Inc. is partnering with Novocol Pharma to add new manufacturing capabilities in their Cambridge facility that will complete the final steps of preparing and packaging respiratory mRNA vaccines for distribution in Ontario and throughout Canada.

“Moderna’s new investment is a huge vote of confidence in our province, our workers, and our growing life sciences sector,” Ford said in a news release. “Not only will this investment create good paying jobs, it will provide our health care workers and people with more reliable access to life-saving vaccines, helping to ensure we no longer have to rely on other jurisdictions to keep us safe.”

The province said the partnership will create highly skilled jobs for workers in Cambridge and the surrounding region and help the province become more self-sufficient in case of future health emergencies.

“By building homegrown capacity to produce life-saving vaccines, Ontario will no longer need to rely on other countries to keep our communities safe,” said Jones. “This partnership between Moderna and Novocol Pharma will create good paying jobs for the Cambridge community and help shore up our domestic production of vaccines to ensure faster access in the event of a future public health challenge.”