Canada inks deal to produce Novavax COVID-19 vaccine domestically

Canada has said that it has signed a tentative agreement with the United States vaccine firm Novovax to produce millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines at a facility in Montreal. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on February 3 announced the agreement which is also the first of several being developed the nation expressed its intention to repatriate vaccine production for several decades to come. In a news conference in Ottawa, Trudeau also said that Canada is “clear” that it will be “developing domestic manufacturing” to safeguard the nation on top other partnerships and agreements.

"What we're very clear on is Canada will be developing domestic manufacturing, so regardless of what could happen in the future, we will have domestic production on top of all our partnerships and contracts signed with companies around the world," said Trudeau before stressing that it is essential for Canada to be “self-sufficient” in the production of vaccines. 

As per reports, Novavax is still doing clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate but submitted more data to Health Canada for review last week. Canada reportedly has an agreement to buy 52 million doses from the US firm if its vaccine candidate received the approval in the nation. However, as per reports, the approval is not expected for several weeks and any domestic production is not set to take place until fall, even at the earliest. This still leaves Canada with a significant shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the only vaccines so far approved in the nation.

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Canada confirms first case of South African variant

Meanwhile, Canada on February 1 reported its first case of the coronavirus variant emerged in South Africa that is believed to be more infectious than the existing strain. As per reports, Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, said that the case was found in Peel region outside of Toronto and the person does not even have a known history of travel or any known contact with someone else who travelled. 

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