THUNDER BAY – Canada’s Health Minister says the country will take a cautious approach when it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine.
Last week the country reached an agreement in principle with American vaccine developer Noravax to purchase 76 million doses when one is approved.
The deal is expected to be finalized next year and the company has in the past said it could start late-stage trials by October. Its NVX-CoV2373 vaccine is presently in second-stage trials.
However, Patty Hajdu said any decision to start distributing a vaccine will be based on science and not political motivation.
“We’re putting our investments in multiple candidates of vaccines because we know not all of them will be successful. There will be glitches. There will be vaccines that we sign agreements with that likely will not be as effective as others,” Hajdu said last week.
“It’s important for us to have a diversity of companies that we invest in and also to continue the development of our own manufacturing capacity here in Canada ... so that we can actually manufacture doses here in Canada.”
According to a CTV report, at least seven potential vaccines have advanced to the third phase of testing, which means an immune response has been triggered in humans. The vaccines will now be tested on larger groups of people for their effectiveness to stop the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump has boasted there will be a vaccine ready for public distribution by year’s end.
That might be a little optimistic, said Hajdu, who also acknowledged the government has sped up the process given the economic impact of the virus that is responsible for 9,194 deaths in Canada and nearly 900,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
“Immunologists will say that that is a very aggressive schedule for a vaccine. I will say this, we are focused on the safety and efficacy of a vaccine. I appreciate that science takes time and that research and clinical studies take time,” Hajdu said.
“Having said that, we’ve accelerated a lot of the processes at Health Canada to make sure that companies can on a rotating basis provide information and have that information and research assessed as it becomes available.”
Normally, Hajdu said, a vaccine could take up to four years to create and perfect. She said she doesn’t think it will take nearly that long in the fight against COVID-19.
“But again, this is a brand new virus with a whole set of characteristics that we haven’t seen before and we’re going to want to make sure we procure is safe for use here in Canada.”
