IN AN agreement announced yesterday, Australian vaccine manufacturer CSL Seqirus will supply Canada with 15 million doses of Australian-made advanced cell-based vaccines in the event of an influenza pandemic.
CSL Seqirus has a long-term partnership with the Australian Government and is a pandemic preparedness partner to more than 30 governments around the world.
The digitally-enabled Tullamarine facility and its associated network have the capability to rapidly produce over 150 million vaccines in the first wave of manufacturing to help protect Australia and other nations in the event of a pandemic.
Opened in Dec last year (PD 03 Dec 2025), the new site adds significant capacity to CSL Seqirus' global pandemic response network, and is capable of meeting the high demand from existing and prospective government partners.
Under a previous contract with Canada, CSL Seqirus was contracted to provide an egg-based influenza vaccine in the event of a pandemic.
The new cell-based manufacturing platform provides benefits including scalability, reduced reliance on large volumes of critical materials, and the ability to rapidly produce vaccines using state-of-the-art technology.
"As Commonwealth nations, we have a long-standing friendship, so we're thrilled that vaccines manufactured in Australia will help protect Canadians in the event of an influenza pandemic," said Jonah Smith, vice president, manufacturing and site head at CSL Seqirus Tullamarine Manufacturing Facility.
"Our year-round seasonal vaccine production is a critical part of the strong foundation needed to ensure we can rapidly provide pandemic vaccines."
Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney, who is currently visiting Australia, and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, issued a joint statement welcoming the renewed preparedness contract between the Public Health Agency of Canada and CSL Seqirus.
"The pandemic vaccine preparedness contract will help protect Canadians against future pandemic events and demonstrates how Australian and Canadian science and health collaboration is supporting our health and economic security, supply chain resilience, and pandemic preparedness," they stated. KB
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