Oxford-AstraZeneca Shot Becomes Canada’s Third Approved Vaccine

© Bloomberg Vials of the AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at the Royal Health & Wellbeing Centre in Oldham, U.K., on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. Boris Johnson’s government is pinning its hopes on a mass vaccination program to reduce hospitalizations and ultimately deaths, and aims to slowly lift restrictions from March to allow the economy to re-open.

(Bloomberg) — Canadian public health authorities have approved the coronavirus vaccine from Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc, a third option for a nation that’s secured more doses per person than any other in the world.

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Health Canada released its regulatory decision summary on its website Friday. Canada has an agreement to purchase 20 million doses of the vaccine.

The U.K. was the first country to approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, which it began administering Jan. 4. It has yet to be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Despite its world-leading portfolio, Canada’s inoculation effort got off to a relatively slow start. It has administered 1.68 million shots as of Thursday, covering just 4.5% of its population, trailing all other Group of Seven countries except Japan. The U.K. and U.S. have vaccinated 29% and 20.6% of their citizens, respectively.

Economists are warning the sluggish pace could crimp Canada’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. Concerns about the vaccine rollout are also denting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s support in opinion polls as he weighs whether to trigger an election this year.

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s vaccine was the first to be licensed in Canada on Dec. 9. Initial doses were given the following week to healthcare workers and residents of long-term care homes in urban centers. Moderna Inc.’s vaccine was approved Dec. 23, allowing public health authorities to expand the vaccine campaign to northern and rural areas due to easier transportation requirements.

Canada is currently averaging more than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases a day, with nearly 22,000 deaths across the country since the pandemic began in March 2020.

(Updates with context on vaccination campaign beginning in 4th paragraph.)

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