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Pfizer Vaccine Gets Canada Approval; First Shots Next Week

Three other vaccines are in country’s regulatory process
Trudeau has said majority could receive shot by September

U.K. Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout — Photographer: Victoria Jones/PA Wire/Bloomberg

By

Kait Bolongaro and

Sandrine Rastello

December 9, 2020, 4:49 PM UTCUpdated onDecember 9, 2020, 7:49 PM UTC

Canada’s public health authorities approved Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s coronavirus vaccine, the first such authorization in a country that’s secured more doses per person than any other around the world.

“Health Canada has determined that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine meets the Department’s stringent safety, efficacy and quality requirements for use in Canada,” the government agency said in a statement Wednesday, one day after the U.K. began the world’s first vaccination program for Covid-19.