The agreement, announced on Tuesday by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, is the first of several to develop as Canada says it intends to repatriate vaccine production for decades to come.
“What we are very clear about is that Canada will grow domestic production, so no matter what happens in the future, we will have domestic production in addition to all our partnerships and contracts signed with companies around the world,” he said. They were working during a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.
He added that it was important for Canada to be “self-sufficient” in vaccine production.
Novavax is still conducting clinical trials with its vaccine, but submitted more data to Health Canada on Friday for review. Canada has an agreement to buy 52 million doses of Novavax when and if its vaccine candidate receives Canadian approval.
Approval is not expected for weeks and any domestic production of vaccines will not take place until the autumn, at the earliest.
This still leaves Canada with a significant short-term vaccine shortage. Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are the only vaccines approved so far for use in Canada.
Both vaccine suppliers have significantly slowed deliveries to Canada following a combination of manufacturing delays and requests from Europe, where Canada procures its doses, to restrict exports of vaccines subject to EU approval.
Canada did not try to procure doses of vaccine from the United States after the Trump administration indicated that it would not allow the export of any vaccine.
According to public health data from the provinces and the federal government, just over 2% of Canada’s population has received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The provinces of Canada, which are responsible for distributing vaccines, are increasingly frustrated as mass vaccination sites are ready, but in many cases they are “empty” waiting for vaccine doses.
“They have a capacity of several thousand each day and the opportunity to move on, so we are all a little disappointed, a little frustrated and we reflect to do more and to receive our vaccines,” said the pensioner. General Rick Hillier, who now leads the Ontario Vaccine Working Group.
He added that he had lost confidence in the Pfizer supply chain because the doses promised to Canada had not been delivered.