Health Canada Official Says A COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Approved Within 10 Days

There could be some good news on the horizon! A Health Canada official has revealed that the agency could be in a position to approve a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada within just a matter of days.

Speaking to CBC Radio’s “The Current,” Dr. Supriya Sharma confirmed that Health Canada is expecting to make a “final decision” on the Pfizer/BioNTech candidate within 10 days.

Sharma is a Health Canada senior medical adviser and is also the chief medical adviser to the agency’s deputy minister.

While she admitted that it is a “bit difficult” to provide a time frame for approval right now, she revealed that “things have been progressing really well.”

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Things have been progressing really well and we're expecting within the next week to 10 days to be making a final decision. Dr. Supriya Sharma

At the moment, the government agency is reviewing four different vaccines.

This includes the candidate from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca* and Janssen Inc., a subsidiary of the U.S.-based company Johnson & Johnson.

While Canada doesn’t have the capacity to produce these shots on a large-enough scale at home, Trudeau has promised that Canada’s vaccine portfolio remains the most diverse in the world.

In fact, he even said more than 10 doses have already been secured for every person in the country. 

Dr. Sharma’s comments come just one day after the U.K. became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer option, with distribution set to begin as early as next week.

*This article has been updated.