PREVENT partners

Funding partners

Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise (PREVENT) is a $25.5 million national vaccine commercialization consortium.

Federal funding ($15 million) is from the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) through its Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research program (CECR).

$10.5 million of in-kind support comes from PREVENT's three partners – VIDO/InterVac in Saskatoon, the BC Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver, and the Canadian Center for Vaccinology (a partnership among Dalhousie University, the IWK Health Centre and Capital Health) in Halifax.

Federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)

The federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) programs fund partnerships between universities, industry, government and not-for-profit organizations. They help turn Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social benefits for all Canadians.

The NCE mandate aligns naturally with the federal S&T Strategy, launched in May 2007, which promotes a People, a Knowledge and an Entrepreneurial Advantage for Canada.

The Pan-Provincial Vaccine Enterprise (PREVENT) is funded by the CECR program, to further its goal of creating world-class centres to advance research and facilitate commercialization of technologies, products and services.

The four Networks of Centres of Excellence programs are:

Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)

Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (CECRs)

Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence (BL-NCEs)

Industrial Research and Development Internship program (IRDI)

PREVENT is one of 11 new Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research established in February 2008 through the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence program.
Did you know?
image of BSE

A group of brain diseases, including BSE (or mad cow disease) and Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease of humans, are transmitted by "prions," which are infectious protein particles similar to a virus. BSE is carried by animal feed made from cattle brains or spinal cord, and ingestion of meat infected with the disease can cause CJD in humans. The brain of BSE-affected cows has a sponge-like appearance when tissue sections are examined in the lab.

Credit: Dr. Al Jenny.

Source: Public Health Image Library, APHIS, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

BACKGROUNDER

Immunization:
Inoculation and Vaccination

Inoculation (also known as variolation) was introduced to the west by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), who witnessed inoculation being
portrait of lady
practiced by physicians in Constantinople,[12] and was greatly impressed:[13] she had lost a brother to smallpox and bore facial scars from the disease herself. In 1718 she had the embassy surgeon inoculate her son, and in 1721, after returning to England, had her daughter inoculated[14]. In 1722 the Prince of Wales' daughters received inoculations[16].

The practice of inoculation slowly spread amongst the royal families of Europe, followed by general adoption amongst the rest of the population. Given the severe consequences of smallpox in Europe in the 18th century, many parents felt that the benefits outweighed the risks and so inoculated their children.[21] [22]

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