National Post (National Edition)
Canada to buy 20 million doses of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine
Results promising in early third phase
OTTAWA• Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday the government has reached a deal to get 20 million doses of the Oxford University COVID-19 vaccine, one of the leading candidates to protect people from the pandemic.
The government has signed multiple agreements for more than 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, from several potential vaccines, but until Friday had not signed a deal with AstraZeneca, a British firm who are manufacturing the Oxford vaccine.
Canada is now invested in six major vaccine candidates and Trudeau said the government is prepared to do all it can to secure a working vaccine.
“Canadians must have access to a safe and effective vaccine against COVID-19 as quickly as possible, no matter where it was developed,” he said.
The U.K., U.S., Japan and several European countries have already announced orders for hundreds of millions of doses of the Oxford vaccine. The vaccine has entered the third and final phase of trials to test its efficacy and has shown promising results in early testing.
Earlier this month, a 30,000-patient trial started in the U.S. and results are expected as soon as November. Trials are also underway in the U.K. and Brazil. The U.S. trials are testing it as a twodose regime of the vaccine.
The prime minister also announced Canada would provide $440 million to the Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX). The COVAX program is designed to have wealthier countries finance vaccines for poorer ones by sharing the cost. COVAX is invested in nine vaccine candidates, including the Oxford one. Canada’s investment is split in two with $220 million to acquire 15 million doses for domestic use and $220 million dedicated to bringing vaccines to poorer countries.
Trudeau said for life to return to normal it won’t be enough to eradicate the virus just in Canada.
“To eliminate the virus anywhere we need to eliminate it everywhere,” he said.
Procurement minister Anita Anand said having access to the COVAX facility means in addition to the 20 million doses Canada bought directly, it could get more through the COVAX arrangement if the Oxford candidate proves successful.
“Our strategy of ensuring that we have a diverse range of vaccine candidates from which to choose is enhanced by our agreement with AstraZeneca. But also by our agreement with the COVAX facility.”
Anand said all along the government’s strategy has been to avoid having all of the country’s eggs in one basket.
“We are manufacturing vaccines in multiple jurisdictions, so that we again are diversifying where vaccines are produced and hedging or mitigating against any risk,” she said.
In addition to the Oxford/ AstraZeneca deal, Canada has signed deals with Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna. In total there are orders for more than 150 million doses spread across the six companies.
Assuming the vaccine candidates pass clinical trials, Anand said all of the companies should make deliveries to Canada in early 2021.
Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said she wants more detailed information from the government on exactly when Canada can expect vaccines and where the country sits in priority for deliveries.
She said she also wants the government to put as much emphasis on rapid testing for COVID-19, as it has for vaccines.
“I feel like they should also be looking at rapid at-home testing as a solution to address the spread of COVID, given that we don’t really have a timeline on any of these other issues with regard to the vaccine.”
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said she has kept in touch with Health Canada who are in charge of approving rapid testing units and said so far they need more information to be confident the tests will be accurate.
Tam used the example of the Spartan Cube, a testing unit Health Canada approved early in the process, but ultimately recalled. The cube could detect the virus, but the swabs used to collect samples weren’t long enough to collect adequate samples.
Rempel Garner said she understands the need for testing, but wants the government to be as aggressive looking for good testing kits as it has been with vaccines.
“Given that there are multiple technologies around the world that have been developed and approved by developed countries why don’t we have the same priority?”