Sask. government gives $200,000 for COVID-19 vaccine research
"We want to make sure that it's completely safe, that it doesn't cause any adverse effects. Realistically, all of that will take some time."
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A Saskatoon lab is receiving $200,000 from the provincial government to work on the search for a COVID-19 vaccine as global health officials officially label the situation a pandemic.
Innovation Saskatchewan announced Wednesday that the money has been awarded to the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac), which has been studying the novel coronavirus at its containment level three facility at the University of Saskatchewan since the first North American case was reported in January.
The announcement came just minutes before the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic, which is defined as a disease that is prevalent across an entire country or the world.
“Saskatchewan’s infectious disease researchers are among the best in the world and our government is proud to support their efforts in the development of a vaccine to protect against COVID-19,” Tina Beaudry-Mellor, the minister responsible for Innovation Saskatchewan, said in a release.
The announcement comes just days after the federal government announced nearly $1 million in additional funding for the lab as part of a $26.7-million research package on the novel coronavirus, a respiratory illness that the WHO says has infected at least 113,702 people since it first emerged in central China in December.
VIDO-InterVac Director Volker Gerdts said last week that a candidate vaccine has already been given to ferrets. If it works, the lab may move to continue testing the vaccine, eventually preparing it for a clinical trial on humans — though Gerdts cautioned it will take at least a year before research is at that stage.
“We want to make sure that it’s completely safe, that it doesn’t cause any adverse effects,” Gerdts said. “Realistically, all of that will take some time.”
The lab is also testing whether farm animals like chickens or pigs can act as reservoirs for the virus and potentially transmit it to humans.
Saskatchewan’s announcement came just hours after the federal government announced an additional $1 billion to mitigate the affects of COVID-19. Canada had 83 confirmed cases as of Wednesday morning; no cases had been reported in Saskatchewan.
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