“With Pfizer, Moderna and now AstraZeneca, Canada will receive more than 6.5 million doses before the end of March,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
The vaccine is the third to be approved by Health Canada following the approval of vaccines in December by Pfizer Inc. with BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc.
Canada has ordered 20 million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca and will receive 1.9 million through COVAX in the first half of the year – the international initiative launched to provide equitable access to vaccines.
Video transcription
– Canada received a total of 643,000 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. This is our biggest delivery week to date. Vaccines will continue to arrive faster as we enter spring, not just because the transportation of Moderna and Pfizer is booming, but because Canada has now approved another vaccine option. This morning, Health Canada approved the AstraZeneca Oxford COVID-19 vaccine and the version of the Serum Institute of India, COVID Shield, which is sponsored in Canada by Mississauga’s Verity Pharmaceuticals. In other words, we now have a third safe and effective vaccine that has been independently approved by health experts in Canada.
This is very encouraging news. This means that more people need to be vaccinated, because for AstraZeneca, just like for Pfizer and Moderna, we are ready to get doses rolling. Canada has secured two million doses of the COVID Shield vaccine through an agreement with Verity Pharmaceuticals and the Serum Institute of India. With the vaccine now approved in Canada, our first shipment of half a million of these doses will arrive within a few weeks. The remaining doses are scheduled for delivery over the next few months.