Two new agreements ensure to supply millions of doses of COVID 19 vaccines
Sept. 1, 2020
Global Korean Post
Canada’s ability to defeat COVID-19 depends on the development, production, and distribution of an effective and proven vaccine.
The Government of Canada has now signed agreements with the following companies to obtain vaccines.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau on Aug. 31st announced that agreements in principle have been reached with Johnson & Johnson and Novavax to procure millions of doses of experimental COVID‑19 vaccines.
These agreements add to those already reached with Pfizer and Moderna, which were made following the recommendations of the COVID-19 Vaccine Task Force.
With these additional agreements in place, Canada has now secured access to four of the leading vaccine candidates.
Currently, no vaccines have been approved to prevent COVID-19. Many vaccines are in clinical trials or under development. When additional studies have been completed, Health Canada will review the evidence of safety, efficacy, and manufacturing quality for each vaccine to determine whether individual vaccines will be approved for use in Canada, before they are used to vaccinate Canadians.
In the spring of 2020, the Government of Canada announced a total of $44 million in funding to allow the NRC to upgrade its facilities at the Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre. This investment will ensure that the facility complies with good manufacturing practices related to the development, testing, and scale-up and production of promising vaccine candidates. It will also enable the preliminary production of 250,000 doses of vaccine per month starting in November 2020.
