PM announces a deal to secure 20 million additional doses of vaccine candidate

OTTAWA — With a second wave of COVID-19 underway, Canada has secured millions of more doses of potential vaccines.

Minister Justin Trudeau, alongside health officials, announced a deal Friday to purchase up to 20 million doses of the vaccine candidate being produced by AstraZeneca, in partnership with Oxford University.

It’s the sixth such deal and means Canada has secured a total of more than 170 million potential doses.

Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau announces a new deal to secure 20-million additional doses of a vaccine candidate #Cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/3tPQFFlrWt

— Cormac Mac Sweeney (@cmaconthehill) September 25, 2020

The federal government is also investing $440 million to join the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility to supply a vaccine to both wealthy and developing nations.

“Because to eliminate the virus anywhere, we need to eliminate it everywhere,” Trudeau said.

Meanwhile, the opposition ramping up pressure for the federal government to approve a wide variety of rapid test kits. But Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said the approval process has been delayed because the company seeking approval hasn’t given enough information to Health Canada.

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Tam also urged Canadians to start changing their behaviours now to prevent an expected spike in COVID-19 cases this fall that could be much worse than the spring.

The number of COVID-19 cases around the country continues to spike, with Quebec recording another 637 cases and Ontario reporting 409 new cases.

B.C. had 148 new cases on Thursday.