How likely is it that we’ll need a hantavirus vaccine? And other questions answered by an epidemiologist – CTV
May 15, 2026
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government promised that Canada would become a vaccine hub. But did that ever happen?
The answer, according to an epidemiologist, is “sort of.”
The University of Ottawa’s Raywat Deonandan said Canada is in a better position now than it was six years ago, but some elements are still lacking.
“We’ve got about a dozen vaccine manufacturing centres across the country, but only three can be scaled up to industrial-level manufacturing,” he said in an interview with CTV Your Morning Wednesday.
“They have extraordinary capacity, but we don’t have the ingredients yet for full vaccine sovereignty, if that’s the word.”
Also needed for a scale-up are data-sharing agreements and human resources, among other things, he said.
