■ Canada gave the green light to Johnson & Johnson’s shot; it’s the country’s fourth approved COVID-19 vaccine.

It becomes the first major country to approve four vaccines

TORONTO — Canada is getting a fourth vaccine to prevent COVID-19 as the country’s health regulator has cleared a Johnson & Johnson shot that works with just one dose instead of two, officials said Friday.

Health experts are eager for a oneand-done option to help speed vaccination. Canada has also approved vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Astrazeneca and Health Canada is the first major regulator to approve four different vaccines, said Dr. Supriya Sharma, Health Canada’s chief medical adviser.

Like many countries, Canada does not have domestic production and has struggled with an immediate shortage of vaccines. The U.S. so far isn’t allowing locally made vaccines to be exported, so Canada — like the other U.S. neighbor, Mexico — has been forced to get vaccines from Europe and Asia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has an agreement with Johnson & Johnson for 10 million doses before September. It was not immediately clear when Canada would get its first shipments of those.

But Trudeau announced Pfizer would deliver an additional 1.5 million doses to Canada in March and another 1 million doses ahead of schedule in both April and May.

“We have reasons to be optimistic. We’re going to be able to move things forward,” Trudeau said. “But at the same time, we also know that these are global supply chains that are being set up and there’s always possibility for disruptions.”

The U.S. approved Johnson & Johnson last month. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said J&J’S vaccine offers strong protection against what matters most: serious illness, hospitalizations and death. One dose was 85 percent protective against the most severe COVID-19 illness in a massive study that spanned three continents — protection that remained strong even in countries such as South Africa, where the variants of most concern are spreading.

J&J also is seeking authorization for emergency use of its vaccine in Europe and from the World Health Organization. The company aims to produce about 1 billion doses globally by the end of the year. Last month, the island nation of Bahrain became the first to clear its use.

The head of the vaccine program for Canada’s most populous province expects to get every adult in Ontario a first vaccine shot by June 20. Retired Gen. Randy Hillier said by the first day of summer he wants everyone in Ontario who is eligible to get a dose.

In other developments:

■ The head of the World Health Organization called for patent rights to be waived until the end of the coronavirus pandemic so vaccine supplies can be dramatically increased. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said countries with their own vaccine capacity should “start waiving intellectual property rights” as provided in special emergency provisions from the World Trade Organization.

■ Urgent calls for COVID-19 vaccine fairness rang through African countries on Friday as more welcomed or rolled out doses from the global COVAX initiative, with officials acutely aware their continent needs much more. “Rich countries should not be so selfish,” Pontiano Kaleebu, head of the Uganda Virus Research Institute, said as his country received its first doses.

■ Israel on Friday postponed plans to vaccinate Palestinians who work inside the country and its

West Bank settlements until further notice. COGAT, the Israeli military agency coordinating day-to-day affairs with the Palestinian Authority, attributed the postponement to “administrative delays,” adding that a new start date for the campaign would be determined later.