Canada signs agreement for 76M doses of potential COVID-19 vaccine
OTTAWA, ON., Sept. 1, 2020 — Yesterday it was announced that Canada has signed an agreement in principle for 76 million doses of a potential COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax, a biotechnology company in the USA. The promising results from a small clinical trial, released at the beginning of August, showed that the vaccine produced higher levels of antibodies in healthy volunteers after two doses, than those found in recovered COVID-19 patients.
According to the press release, Novavax is panning larger late-stage clinical trials soon and if it proves successful, they are hoping to obtain regulatory approval in December. Should it be effective and safe, it could be available to Canada and its citizens as early as the second quarter of 2021. “We are pleased to work with the Canadian government on supply of our COVID-19 vaccine, an essential step to ensure broad access of our vaccine candidate,” Stanley C. Erck, CEO of Novavax said in the release.
Anita Anand, Canada’s Minister of Public Services and Procurement said, “We are pleased to announce this agreement with Novavax, which will give Canadians access to a promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate, this is an important step in our government’s efforts to secure a vaccine to keep Canadians safe and healthy as the global pandemic evolves.” The deal would depend on Health Canada’s approval, as it does with other pharmaceutical companies they have signed agreements with.
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