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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that most Canadians should be vaccinated by September 2021.
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is conducting a COVID-19 vaccine trial together with BioNTech. Image: Supplied.
OTTAWA – Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, days after Britain became the first country to green-light and launch it.
“Today, Canada reached a critical milestone in its fight against COVID-19 with the authorization of the first COVID-19 vaccine,” Health Canada said in a statement.
The vaccine, he said, underwent an expedited review while it was still in clinical trials, which concluded that it met “strict safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that up to 249,000 doses would be received in December, with the first shipments to 14 sites across Canada arriving next week and people receiving injections a day or two later.
Health workers and vulnerable populations, including the elderly, will be the first to receive it.
By September 2021, Trudeau said, most Canadians should be vaccinated.
Thousands of Britons became the first in the Western world to receive the vaccine on Tuesday at the start of the largest global vaccination campaign in more than half a century.
The vaccine, which was shown to be 95% effective in late-stage clinical trials, is given in two doses 21 days apart.
However, British health officials warned on Wednesday that anyone with a history of major allergic reactions should not get it right away, after two people suffered allergic reactions and needed treatment.
US giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech called Canada’s interim order for emergency use “a historic moment in our collective fight against the COVID-19 pandemic” and “a major step towards a return to normalcy in Canada. “.
They will continue to provide data on their use for ongoing evaluation, according to the Canadian Department of Health.
Meanwhile, the federal government has completed pre-orders with several pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer and BioNTech, Sanofi and GSK, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson, Medicago and Moderna, for 400 million doses, to ensure you finally get what you need. for its population of 38 million.
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