6-week sprint got Canada's nod for AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

Health Canada's relatively fast approval was underpinned by SII and Verity's four years of working to bring a cancer treatment to Canada

Problems at AstraZeneca Plc’s European production site in January kicked off a six-week push to get a version of its Covid-19 vaccine made at an Indian facility approved by Canada’s drug regulator, acco­rding to the Canadian pharmaceutical company that filed the application.

Last week, when Health Canada approved Astra­Zen­eca’s Covid-19 vaccine, it also cleared a version of the shot made by the Serum Institute of India (SII). SII filed the application with a Can­adian partner, Verity Pharmaceuticals.

Some 500,000 doses made by SII, the world’s largest vaccine producer, are set to arrive in Canada on Wednesday, a surprise boost for Canada’s lagging