Three of Saskatoon’s hospital foundations are donating in total $230,000 to establish VIDO as Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research. The donation for the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization comes from the foundations for the Royal University Hospital, Saskatoon City Hospital and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital. Brynn Boback-Lane with JPCH says the donation is to honour the hard work of front-line health care and support staff and research initiatives across the province.

VIDO’s director and CEO, Dr. Volker Gerdts says, “This investment in Canada’s Centre for Pandemic Research will help ensure we are preparing for the next emerging infectious disease, so our health care system hopefully never has to face a pandemic of this magnitude again.
This donation adds to the support received from all levels of government and from private donors toward the goal of becoming the national centre of pandemic research.