AstraZeneca vaccine made in India to arrive in Canada on Wednesday

TORONTO (Reuters) – A shipment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and made by the Serum Institute of India is set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, the chief executive of local partner Verity Pharmaceuticals said on Friday.

Verity’s chief executive, Howard Glase, said the shipment is not part of Canada’s allocation from the COVAX system, meant to ensure equitable vaccine distribution. Canada has a separate procurement deal with AstraZeneca, which licensed the vaccine to Serum Institute, the world’s largest vaccine producer.

(Reporting by Allison Martell; editing by Jonathan Oatis)