New Delhi (NVI): Canada has approved its first COVID-19 vaccine, clearing the way for doses of the Pfizer Inc shots to be delivered and administered across the country as soon as next week.
With this, Canada became the third country after United Kingdom and Bahrain to give the green light to vaccine made by US drugmaker Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech.
Health Canada has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech’s #COVID19 vaccine. After a thorough and independent review of the evidence. Health Canada has determined that the vaccine meets its stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements. https://t.co/mhFcspCpTi#COVIDvaccines pic.twitter.com/q6xkC27z6i
— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) December 9, 2020
“The approval of the vaccine is supported by evidence that it is safe, effective and of good quality,” regulator Health Canada said in a statement.
It has initially been authorized for use in people 16 years of age or older.
The vaccine was approved under an interim, accelerated drug review system very similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration`s emergency use authorizations, and comes a day before a panel of advisers to the FDA is set to review and recommend whether the U.S. agency should authorize the use of the Pfizer vaccine.
On Tuesday, a British citizen became the first in the world to get the shots outside of clinical trials following last week`s UK approval.
In a large, late-stage trial, the vaccine was shown to be 95% effective at preventing illness, far better than originally anticipated.
Canada will receive an early shipment of up to 249,000 doses of Pfizer`s vaccine by the end of the month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Canada released a detailed plan for its vaccination rollout, saying in a written statement that the nation is now “well-positioned to immunize 100% of the population in 2021.”
-CHK
