قبل اكتمال التجارب: كندا تتعاقد على 52 مليون جرعة

خالد سلامة – أخبار كندا

أصبحت شركة تدعى ( نوفافاكس) هي أحدث الشركات التي تقدمت للصحة الكندية بطلب الموافقة على لقاحها بالرغم من عدم اكتمال الاختبارات النهائية للفيروس على العدد المطلوب عالميا من المرضى

هيئة الصحة الكندية المعروف عنها التشدد الكبيرة في استلام الطلبات لحد الروتين تغاضت عن شرط الاختبارات النهائية للتطعيم الجديد بسبب ما تواجهه الحكومة من انتقادات شديدة بسبب عدم قدرتها على توفير كميات الطعوم اللازمة للكنديين

تشير التقارير إلى أن كندا لم تتغاضى فقط عن النتائج النهائية والاكتفاء بنتائج الاختبارات الأولية بل أن كندا تعاقدت مع تلك الشركة على شراء كمية قدرها 52 مليون جرعة لقاح من هذا النوع

Pharmaceutical company Novavax quietly submitted its COVID-19 vaccine to Health Canada for regulatory approval on Friday, less than two weeks after Ottawa finalized a deal with the Maryland-based company for 52 million doses of the shot.

Because of the emergency nature of the pandemic Health Canada is accepting applications for vaccines before the final trial data is ready, allowing the review team to start pouring over the documents on an ongoing basis, rather than waiting until everything is finished.

The rolling review allows for much faster approval once the final results from clinical trials are complete.

Novavax is the fifth vaccine maker to submit an application for rolling review. AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna all submitted in early October, and Johnson and Johnson followed suit at the end of November.

Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Dec. 9 and gave Moderna the green light on Dec. 23, both about three weeks after the companies completed their phase three trials. A decision on AstraZeneca is expected in the next couple of weeks.

Johnson and Johnson reported results from its phase three trial just last week.

Novavax also reported results Thursday from a trial in the United Kingdom, but a large trial in the U.S. is still at least a month or two away from yielding final results.

Novavax has said its vaccine was 89 per cent effective in the U.K. trial. It also touts its product as very effective against the new British and South African strains of COVID-19.

Novavax’s application comes as the federal Liberal government faces withering criticism for the pace of vaccinations across the country, with opposition parties and some provincial governments complaining about a lack of shots