The government of Canada is continuing to advance its work of protecting animal health by establishing a foot and mouth disease (FMD) vaccine bank, according to a government-issued press release. The vaccine bank is a key part of Canada's response plans to control and ultimately eliminate an outbreak of FMD should it be detected in Canadian animals.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued last Friday by Public Services and Procurement Canada, on behalf of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), to supply vaccine products to the FMD vaccine bank.

The successful bidder(s) would provide concentrated FMD vaccines that could be rapidly transformed into usable vaccines. Information about the RFP including requirements, criteria, processes and timelines is available to interested bidders on CanadaBuys.

The vaccine bank will help protect Canada from the emerging threat of this disease, maintain public confidence in the Canadian food supply, and help reduce the spread of the disease, should an outbreak occur. An effective and efficient response, including vaccination, will also help mitigate prolonged market disruptions to trade.

"It's vitally important that we continue to take steps to protect livestock, and the livelihood of our hardworking farmers, against the threat of animal disease," said Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. "By creating a dedicated foot and mouth disease vaccine bank, we're working to reduce the spread of the disease and the impact that a potential outbreak would have on market access for Canadian producers. Today's announcement marks another step forward in the on-going work of supporting our animal disease preparedness efforts."