Moderna chooses Montreal as site of first vaccine plant outside U.S.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed Moderna Inc., the Cambridge, Mass.-based pharmaceutical company that became a household name during the pandemic thanks to its COVID-19 vaccine, would build its new $180-million mRNA manufacturing plant in Montreal.

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Last August, the federal government signed a memorandum of understanding with Moderna that would make Canada the site of the company’s first international operation, but the parties went ahead with the MOU without deciding on a specific location.

The agreement with Moderna will ensure that Canada gets priority for vaccine doses. Currently, Canada relies almost entirely on imported vaccines, a vulnerability that showed itself early in the pandemic when Trudeau’s government was forced to get in line for doses made by American and European companies. Moderna’s Canadian facility is expected to produce mRNA vaccines not only for COVID-19, but for a variety of respiratory and infectious illnesses.

“Being able to produce made in Canada COVID-19 mRNA vaccines is not just important for COVID-19, or for future pandemics, (but) it also will have a significant impact on the research that (Moderna is) doing on a range of illnesses,” including Alzheimer’s and various cancers, Trudeau said at a press conference in Montreal on April 29.

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The agreement also gives Canada the ability to decide exactly what the factory manufactures in order to adjust production based on existing and emerging threats.

“Today’s announcement is perfectly aligned with our plan to build a more resilient future for Canadians, and shows that Canada is truly an attractive place for world-class companies to come invest, build, and grow,” said Trudeau.

Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel called the news “historic.”

“We are really excited to be able to construct this factory and to construct a relationship for the decades to come with the Quebec community,” said Bancel, adding that Moderna would share its vaccine technology with McGill University in order to accelerate global vaccine research.

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The arrival of Moderna could partially offset the embarrassment Canadian leaders felt when they were forced to acknowledge in late 2020 that the country’s pharmaceutical capacity had eroded to the point where Canada, a G7 economy, was incapable of manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine.

“It’s good news for the economy, but also when it comes to autonomy,” Quebec Premier François Legault said at the press conference. The last two years have shown that “we are never better served than by oneself,” he said.

Officials declined to offer details about the federal and provincial commitments to Moderna. “We have highlighted to Moderna which different regions of the country would be open to welcoming this factory, and we were there to encourage,” Trudeau said. “It is up to the company to decide where and how to invest. For us, the important factor will be to benefit all Canadians and to enlarge an ecosystem of health science.”

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