Meet Derrick Rossi: The Canadian behind Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine

Meet the man behind Moderna. Derrick Rossi — a Canadian stem cell biologist who just happens to be the co-founder of the company that is producing one of just two COVID-19 vaccines currently approved for use in Canada and abroad.

The Scarborough native and ‘hardcore’ Maple Leafs fan attended the University of Toronto before heading to the University of Helsinki and landing an Associate Professor job in stem cells at Harvard Medical School.

He founded Moderna in 2010 but left the company in 2014 to found several other biotech companies.. Two years ago, he left academic life to focus on his family but still does consulting on the side.

Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was approved by Health Canada on December 23, and the country is expected to receive 168,000 doses by the end of the month.

So what exactly happens when you have a vaccine? Rossi says it’s getting your body ready to fight for a future infection.

“Vaccination basically harnesses our own bodies immune system and says – hey – next time you see this agent, you will be prepared to see it. We will prime your immune system for whatever infectious agent you happen to be vaccinated against.” Rossi told OMNI Television.

Health #Canada has approved the Moderna #COVID19 vaccine for use in the country with first doses expected to arrive by the end of the year.

Stem cell biologist and #Moderna co-founder Derrick Rossi says the vaccine is highly effective at protecting against the virus. pic.twitter.com/zZE2CLTlOV

— OMNI Television (@OMNITelevision) December 23, 2020

One of the major questions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine — why was it ready so fast?

Rossi explains that it’s the technology that makes it so easy and fast to produce this vaccine.

“The beauty of this technology is that it is so quick … Every time you go to synthesize something new, it’s the exact same technology. If you need encode a protein for another virus in the future, it’s the same sequence … once you build the infrastructure to produce RNA, changing the code to produce another one is easy as pie,” Rossi explained.

The Moderna co-founder goes on to say that this COVID-19 vaccine actually works better than you think.

“So it’s 100 per cent effective. It’s 94 per cent effective at preventing you getting the disease at all. It’s 100 per cent effective at making sure you don’t get severe disease and so far, it’s 100 per cent effective at saving lives.”