Canada is well-positioned to approve Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine soon — and it could be delivered to the country very quickly after that, a BioNTech executive says.
“If I use the U.K. as an example, we got approval at 1:00 am in the morning. We approved [the] release of the vaccine and shipped it within 24 hours,” said Sean Marett, the chief business and chief commercial officer of Germany’s BioNTech, which partnered with the U.S.-based Pfizer to develop one of the world’s most promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
“Certainly from the discussions that we’ve had, Canada is in a good position to approve the vaccine shortly,” Marett told CBC Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton on Sunday.
The Pfizer/BioNTech product — which was recently greenlit in the U.K. for emergency use — could receive approval from Health Canada as soon as this coming week. Health regulators are currently reviewing three other vaccines produced by Moderna, AstraZeneca and Jannsen.
“Upon approval, we then release the vaccine and then it is shipped. We’ve already produced the vaccine and reserved doses for Canada,” Marett said on Rosemary Barton Live.
Regulatory approval is a key step before the finer details of the federal government’s rollout plan can be set in motion.
“We are negotiating for more precise delivery dates pending Health Canada approval,” Procurement Minister Anita Anand told CBC’s Vassy Kapelos earlier this week. “It’s for that reason that we’re putting the logistics systems in place so that there is no time lost between approval and then distribution to the provinces and territories.”
Rollout the ‘biological equivalent of a moon landing’
Marett called the distribution plan for the vaccine the “biological equivalent of a moon landing.”
“You’ve got to get everything exactly right, and that, of course, includes timings,” Marett said, when asked about exact delivery dates. “These things tend to … move around [for] a few days. But so far, from our experience with one country, the United Kingdom, we’ve seen things move pretty smoothly.”
WATCH | Welsh health minister talks lessons for Canada as U.K. prepares to vaccinate:
Welsh Minister of Health Vaughan Gething talks about lessons for Canada as Wales prepares to start COVID-19 vaccinations in 48 hours. 7:18
On Friday, Anand announced a contract with FedEx Express Canada to support the shipment of most vaccines across the country.
But the Pfizer/BioNTech candidate will be delivered by the pharmaceutical company directly because the product needs to be kept at approximately -70 C to remain stable. Ottawa says it’s already secured enough freezers to store up to 33.5 million units of the vaccine.
Marett said transporting and housing products in sub-zero temperatures is a process that’s been “well mapped out.”
“Together with Pfizer, we’ve designed a storage box … in which the vaccine arrives. You can use that as a -70 freezer. You can open the box twice a day and take vaccine out as long as you re-ice it for up to 15 days,” he explained.
Canada has signed a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech to pre-order 20 million doses of the vaccine, with an option to buy 56 million more in the months ahead. Pfizer says the shots are 95 per cent effective based on Phase 3 clinical trial results.
Marett said his company was “completely stunned” by those findings, considering the vaccine was developed in a matter of months as opposed to years.
“Ninety-five per cent efficacy, as defined by do you get [COVID-19] symptoms or not … is, in our view, a startling result,” he said.
BioNtech executive Sean Marett says his company’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate will be shipped in special freezer boxes, straight to immunization centres around the world. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
PM to discuss rollout with premiers Thursday
Public health officials say that if all goes well, six million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are slated to arrive in Canada within the first three months of 2021. Both vaccines must be administered twice, meaning three million Canadians from several priority groups will be among the first to get a jab.
Some provincial leaders, however, have conflicting views over whether vaccines should be doled out on a per-capita basis or whether they’ll be disseminated based on the coronavirus caseload in a given region.
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey told Barton last week that the safest way to distribute vaccines would be based on population, once the country’s most vulnerable are inoculated. Manitoba’s Brian Pallister said Thursday that a per-capita plan could hurt his hard-hit province.
“Many provinces have advocated for a per-capita sharing of the vaccines,” federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a separate interview on Sunday. “But [that] will be finalized, we hope, in the conversations that the prime minister will have with premiers this coming week.”
WATCH | Minister LeBlanc discusses upcoming first ministers’ meeting:
Health Canada has yet to approve a vaccine for COVID-19. But Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, who also chairs the federal cabinet committee on COVID-19 response, says he expects those approvals to come shortly. 9:54
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with premiers on Thursday to discuss Canada’s shared efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and co-ordinate the country’s inoculation response.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the former NATO commander now leading vaccine logistics and operations for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Friday that every province has now identified specific sites where shots will be received.
On Monday, dry runs are expected to be carried out in each province to ensure that those involved in the rollout process are prepared to handle the “very unique requirements” of an ultra-cold vaccine, Fortin said.
LONGUEUIL, Que. – People in a part of Longueuil, Que., were being asked to stay indoors with their doors and windows closed on Thursday morning after a train derailed, spilling an unknown quantity of hydrogen peroxide.
Police from the city just east of Montreal said it didn’t appear anyone was hurt, although a CN rail official told a news conference that three employees had been taken to hospital as a precautionary measure.
The derailment happened at around 9 a.m. in the LeMoyne area, near the intersection of St-Louis and St-Georges streets. Mathieu Gaudreault, a spokesman for CN rail, said about eight cars derailed at the Southwark rail facility, including four that toppled over.
“As of this morning, the information we have is it’s hydrogen peroxide that was in the rail car and created the fumes we saw,” he said, adding that there was no risk of fire.
François Boucher, a spokesman for the Longueuil police department, said police were asking people in the area, including students at nearby schools, to stay indoors while experts ensure the air is safe to breathe.
“It is as a preventive measure that we encourage people to really avoid exposing themselves unnecessarily,” he told reporters near the scene.
Police and fire officials were on site, as well as CN railworkers, and a large security perimeter was erected.
Officers were asking people to avoid the sector, and the normally busy Highway 116 was closed in the area. The confinement notice includes everyone within 800 metres of the derailment, officials said, who added that it would be lifted once a team with expertise in dangerous materials has given the green light.
In addition to closing doors and windows, people in the area covered by the notice are asked to close heating, ventilation and air exchange systems, and to stay as far from windows as possible.
Gaudreault said it wasn’t yet clear what caused the derailment. The possibilities include a problem with the track, a problem with a manoeuvre, or a mechanical issue, he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Liberal party is promising to improve cellphone service and invest in major highways if the party is elected to govern on Nov. 26.
Party leader Zach Churchill says a Liberal government would spend $60 million on building 87 new cellphone towers, which would be in addition to the $66 million the previous Progressive Conservative government committed to similar projects last year.
As well, Churchill confirmed the Liberals want to improve the province’s controlled access highways by adding exits along Highway 104 across the top of the mainland, and building a bypass along Highway 101 near Digby.
Churchill says the Liberals would add $40 million to the province’s $500 million capital budget for highways.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the three major political parties were expected to spend much of today preparing for a televised debate that will be broadcast tonight at 6 p.m. local time.
Churchill will face off against Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Houston and NDP Leader Claudia Chender during a 90-minute debate that will be carried live on CBC TV and streamed online.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
TORONTO – A group of hotel service workers in Toronto is set to hold a rally today outside the Fairmont Royal York to demand salary increases as hotel costs in the city skyrocket during Taylor Swift’s concerts.
Unite Here Local 75, the union representing 8,000 hospitality workers in the Greater Toronto Area, says Royal York employees have not seen a salary increase since 2021, and have been negotiating a new contract with the hotel since 2022.
The rally comes as the megastar begins her series of six sold-out concerts in Toronto, with the last show scheduled for Nov. 23.
During show weekends, some hotel rooms and short-term rentals in Toronto are priced up to 10 times more than other weekends, with some advertised for as much as $2,000 per night.
The union says hotel workers who will be serving Swifties during her Toronto stops are bargaining for raises to keep up with the rising cost of living.
The union represents hospitality workers including food service employees, room attendants and bell persons.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 14, 2024.
