Canadian virus research hub in Saskatoon turns 50 amid concerns over U.S. funding – CTV
September 25, 2025
SASKATOON — One of Canada’s premier vaccine centres celebrates its 50th birthday this week, but researchers say it comes amid unease over U.S. policy changes and funding cuts that threaten to upend the global fight against disease.
“Having all of that capacity gone from the U.S., as well as the investment in vaccine development, is really going to affect researchers around the world,” virologist Angela Rasmussen said in an interview.
“(It goes) far beyond people just mistrusting vaccines or being hesitant to take them.”
Rasmussen works at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon.
Fellow virologist Dr. Arinjay Banerjee said he receives some funding for his lab from the U.S.-based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and that Canada must rise to the challenge amid U.S. hesitancy.
“It’s an opportunity for us to step up and fill the gap that’s being created globally,” he said.
The organization, known as VIDO for short, sits on four hectares on the University of Saskatchewan campus. It started as a Prairie-based livestock lab and became a world-leading infectious disease research centre.
