Justin Trudeau signs deal for first made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine

Should the preliminary agreement be finalized, Novavax would become the first drugmaker to produce their COVID-19 vaccine in Canada. The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate has not received regulatory approval in Canada yet.

"We’ve signed a memorandum of understanding with Novavax to produce their COVID-19 vaccines at the new [National Research Council] Royalmount facility in Montreal," Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.

Production will not begin at least until July, when the NRC’s Royalmount facility is slated to open, and will come at the tail end of Canada’s vaccination strategy. Trudeau has promised that all Canadians who wish to be immunized against the disease will be able to do so by September.

The prime minister said the Novavax vaccine will prove to be useful in dealing with possible future outbreaks or different strains.

Trudeau has previously lamented the lack of domestic vaccine production capability and expressed concern that countries which have a viable vaccine candidate available will prioritize their citizens ahead of exports abroad, a fear that has come to fruition with vaccine nationalism growing.

Canada is experiencing a vaccine shortage that worsened after producer Pfizer halted delivery to the country last week following an announcement that another producer, Moderna, will deliver 50,000 less vaccine doses this week. The Trudeau government has received the brunt of the criticism for the lackluster vaccine rollout that the opposition has condemned as a failure.