Mr. Speaker, on November 13, 2020, Public Services and Procurement Canada signed an advance purchase agreement, APA, with Medicago for the supply of 20 million firm doses, with options for up to an additional 56 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.
While Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved in Canada in February 2022, due to unanticipated manufacturing issues, Medicago was not able to market any lots of its COVID19 vaccine for commercial use.
On February 2, 2023, Mitsubishi Chemical Group announced its decision to cease all Medicago operations due to lack of global demand for COVID-19 vaccines and delayed production at scale as purchasers now expect bivalent vaccines. The Government of Canada is working together with Medicago to conclude Canada’s APA while protecting Canada’s interests.