Canada to receive 2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India

February 26 2021 – Gatineau, Quebec – Public Services and Procurement Canada

The Government of Canada is taking steps to ensure more people in Canada are vaccinated more quickly, and continues to work to give Canadians access to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible.

Following Health Canada’s authorization of the AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine, the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Public Services and Procurement, announced today that Canada has secured 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through an agreement with Verity Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc./Serum Institute of India.

AstraZeneca has licensed the manufacture of its ChAdOx1 vaccine to the Serum Institute. The first 500,000 doses will be delivered to Canada in the coming weeks and will quickly be ready for distribution to the provinces and territories. The remaining 1.5 million doses will arrive by mid-May.

The 2 million doses secured through this agreement are in addition to the 20 million doses already secured through an earlier agreement with AstraZeneca. Health Canada’s authorization of the AstraZeneca vaccine allows the Government of Canada to advance its work with AstraZeneca to finalize delivery schedules for the 20 million doses.

This announcement further solidifies Canada’s plan to be able to provide a vaccine to everyone in Canada for whom these COVID-19 vaccines are recommended, by the end of September.

Quotes

“The Government of Canada continues to do everything possible to protect Canadians from COVID-19. This includes securing a highly diverse and extensive portfolio of vaccines and taking all necessary measures to ready the country to receive them. We remain fully on track to ensure that there will be a sufficient supply so that every eligible Canadian who wants a vaccine will have access to one by the end of September. I am grateful for the collaboration of our partners in India to finalize this agreement, and I look forward to continuing to work closely together in the weeks ahead.”

The Honourable Anita Anand
Minister of Public Services and Procurement

Quick facts

• AstraZeneca has licensed the manufacture of its ChAdOx1 vaccine to the Serum Institute, which distributes it under the brand name COVISHIELD.
• The Government of Canada has signed agreements with the following companies to secure access to their COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine candidates:
  • Pfizer, which will supply a minimum of 40 million doses and up to 76 million doses of its messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine developed with BioNTech, BNT162b2. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved by Health Canada on December 9, 2020. Canada will receive 4 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine before the end of March, and more than 1.5 million doses in the first half of April.
  • Moderna, which will supply 44 million doses of its mRNA vaccine, mRNA-1273. The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was approved on December 23, 2020. During the week of March 8, Canada is expecting more than 460,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine, and another 846,000 during the week of March 22. These deliveries mean we will have received over 2 million doses in the first quarter.
  • AstraZeneca, which will supply 20 million doses of its viral vector vaccine, ChAdOx1. The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was approved on February 26, 2021.
  • Verity Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc./Serum Institute of India (in collaboration with AstraZeneca Canada Inc.), which will supply 2 million doses of the ChAdOx1 viral vector vaccine. The Verity Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc./Serum Institute of India (in collaboration with AstraZeneca Canada Inc.) COVID-19 vaccine was approved on February 26, 2021.
  • Medicago, which will supply up to 76 million doses of its virus-like particle vaccine candidate.
  • Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, which will supply up to 72 million doses of their protein subunit vaccine candidate.
  • Johnson & Johnson, which will supply up to 38 million doses of its viral vector vaccine candidate, Ad26.COV2.S.
  • Novavax, which will supply up to 76 million doses of its protein subunit vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.
• The authorization of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine also allows the Government of Canada to access its allocation of doses from the COVAX facility.