Canada approves Covid-19 vaccine and could start shots next week
OTTAWA (NYTIMES) – Canada on Wednesday (Dec 9) become only the second Western country to approve a coronavirus vaccine, a week after Britain did so and a day before US regulators will meet to consider taking that step, opening the possibility that Canadians will start being inoculated next week.
The regulatory agency Health Canada approved the same vaccine, created by the American company Pfizer and a German firm, BioNTech, that was authorised in Britain and is up for a decision in the United States.
Canada’s move marks another milestone in the global fight against a pandemic that has killed more than 1.5 million people, continues to spread rapidly and has driven the world into a deep economic crisis.
Health Canada said that it had completed a rigorous, independent review of the data from clinical trials on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, which involved tens of thousands of people – the same kind of scrutiny applied by the US Food and Drug Administration.
British regulators, in giving emergency approval, relied largely on Pfizer’s own analysis of that data, which is the standard approach in much of the world. Bahrain approved the same vaccine Friday.
“It’s a testament to the work of regulators internationally,” said Dr Supriya Sharma, the chief medical adviser at Health Canada, the regulator. “It’s an exceptional day for Canada.”
The go-ahead means that Canadians could receive the vaccine – which requires two doses, weeks apart – before Americans do, though Pfizer is based in the United States.
That is likely to aggravate President Donald Trump, who has demanded faster action by the FDA and was angry that Britain, which began inoculating people Tuesday, had acted before the United States.
The first shipments to Canada, which will total 249,000 doses by the end of the month, will come from a plant in Belgium, officials said.
Other vaccines are close behind in the approval processes in Europe and North America, and still others are in development. Vaccines developed in Russia and China are already in use – the United Arab Emirates gave full approval to a Chinese inoculation Wednesday – though clinical trials on them are still underway.
Canada, which has a population of 38 million, has agreed to buy up to 76 million doses from Pfizer, and 414 million doses of other potential vaccines from other companies, but the rollout will take months. Similarly, Britain has arranged for far more doses than it will need, in case some vaccines are delayed or do not pan out.
The Trump administration has only ordered enough to inoculate about 15 per cent of the US population, and in July passed up an offer from Pfizer to buy more in advance.
Major General Dany Fortin, the Canadian military officer overseeing the distribution of the vaccine to provincial healthcare systems, said that Pfizer would start shipping it on Friday. That could make it possible, he said, for Canadians to begin receiving shots as early as next Wednesday.
It will be up to Canada’s provincial governments to decide who will be vaccinated first. Dr Howard Njoo, the country’s deputy chief public health officer, said a federal panel has recommended that the first injections go to people over the age of 80, residents and workers of long-term care homes, health workers and indigenous communities.
Mr François Legault, the premier of Quebec, said his province would first target long-term care homes, which have been the main source of Covid-related deaths in the province.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged Canadians to continue to respect public health rules. “It’s a good news day for Canadians, but we are not through this yet,” he said. “We have a tough winter to go through.”
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