The Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) is a research organization of the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

that operates with financial support from the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

, the government of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, livestock industry councils and agencies, foundations and human and animal health companies. In addition to the facility on campus, VIDO-InterVac also operates a research station. VIDO-InterVac's aims are to protect

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the world from infectious diseases by focusing on diseases that: affect livestock industries; are important to human health; and are emerging diseases including

zoonoses A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human ...

History

Originally named the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization, VIDO-InterVac was established with funding from the Devonian Group of Charitable Foundations, the

Province of Alberta A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outs ...

and the Province of Saskatchewan. VIDO had strong ties to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the

. The laboratory took on its current name in March 2003. In October 2003, a expansion was completed. In March 2004, VIDO received funding for the construction one of the world's largest and most advanced biosafety level 3 facilities, the International Vaccine Centre (InterVac), for research into emerging and reemerging human and animal diseases. The approximately

CA$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style g ...

150 million in funding needed for infrastructure was provided by the

, the

Canada Foundation for Innovation The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI; french: Fondation canadienne pour l'innovation, ''FCI'') is an independent not-for-profit organization that invests in research facilities and equipment in Canada's universities, colleges, research hospital ...

, the

Government of Saskatchewan The Government of Saskatchewan (french: Gouvernement de la Saskatchewan) refers to the provincial government of the province of Saskatchewan. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "g ...

, the University of Saskatchewan, and the City of Saskatoon. InterVac finished construction in 2011 with a celebration that included then-prime minister Stephen Harper, Saskatchewan premier

Brad Wall Bradley John Wall (born November 24, 1965), is a Canadian former politician who served as the 14th premier of Saskatchewan from November 21, 2007 until February 2, 2018. He is the fourth longest-tenured premier in the province's history. His so ...

, and Saskatoon mayor

Don Atchison Donald James Atchison (born March 1, 1952) is a Canadian politician who was Mayor of Saskatoon, the largest city in the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan, from 2003 to 2016. Atchison was elected mayor four times, tied for the most after ...

. It received operational certification by the

Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; french: Agence de la santé publique du Canada, ASPC) is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic dis ...

and

Canadian Food Inspection Agency The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA; french: Agence canadienne d'inspection des aliments) is a regulatory agency that is dedicated to the safeguarding of food, plants, and animals (FPA) in Canada, thus enhancing the health and well-being of ...

in 2013. InterVac is one of the few level 3 facilities in the world capable of working with large animals including

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

, elk,

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, and

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

s. The organization has had five directors since its inception. Chris Bigland was the founding director and ran the organization from 1975 to 1984. Its other directors have been Stephen Acres (1984–1993), Lorne Babiuk (1993–2007), Andrew Potter (2007–2018), and Volker Gerdts (2019–present). VIDO-InterVac has created three spin-off companies (

Biostar Biostar Microtech International Corp. () is a Taiwanese company which designs and manufactures computer hardware products such as motherboards, video cards, expansion cards, thermal grease, headphones, home theater PCs, remote controls, deskt ...

, Biowest, and Star Biotech).

COVID-19 research

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the

has provided $4.2 million to VIDO- InterVac. It also received $23 million in federal funding announced on March 23 for the centre's manufacturing facility to produce COVID-19 vaccines for clinical trials, and overall operational costs.

Vaccines

* Vicogen (

) – Prevention of calf scours * Ecolan RC (

) – Prevention of bacterial and viral calf scours * Hevlan TC (

poultry Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, their meat or their feathers. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes (which includes chickens, quails, ...

) – Prevention of enteritis in turkeys * Pneumo-Star (

) – Prevention of Pasteurella infection * Somnu-Star (

) – Prevention of Haemophilosis in cattle * Somnu-Star Ph (

) – Prevention of Pasteurellosis and Haemophilosis in cattle * Pleuro-Star 4 ( swine) – Prevention of Porcine Pleuropneumonia * Econiche (

) – Reduction of shedding of Ecoli O157 to control human infection and environmental contamination In 2020, VIDO-InterVac began developing a vaccine for

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

during the

References

External links

* {{authority control COVID-19 vaccine producers Scientific organizations based in Canada University of Saskatchewan Medical and health organizations based in Saskatchewan Medical research institutes in Canada Organizations based in Saskatoon Veterinary organizations Laboratories in Canada BSL3 laboratories in Canada Veterinary medicine in Canada