Canada on Wednesday (December 9) 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.
Canada is the third country after Britain and Bahrain to give the green light to the Pfizer vaccine, developed with Germany`s BioNTech SE.
"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, British citizens 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.
However, on Wednesday, Britain`s medicine regulator advised that people with a history of significant allergies not get Pfizer`s vaccine after two people reported adverse reactions on the first day of its rollout.
Responding to questions on the allergic reactions, Health Canada officials said that is always a risk with vaccines, but they are recommending that people who have previously had adverse reactions to any of the ingredients in the vaccine not to take it for now.
Officials said they would monitor developments in Britain to see if there were further implications for Canada.
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 on Monday.
Canada released a detailed plan for its vaccination rollout on Wednesday, saying in a written statement that the nation is now "well-positioned to immunize 100% of the population in 2021." General inoculations for all Canadians would begin in April after priority populations have been vaccinated, it said.