The first Canadian clinical trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine have been approved by Health Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the trials will take place at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The potential vaccine is from the Chinese company CanSino Biologics.
The first Canadian clinical trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine have been approved by Health Canada. Dr. Scott Halperin, the director of the Canadian Center for Vaccinology, explains the different phases of testing that a potential vaccine would have to go through. 8:56
A Halifax research team will be working with a Chinese manufacturer to run the first Canadian clinical trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement during his daily remarks on Saturday.
The trials have been approved by Health Canada and will take place at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology (CCfV) at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“Research and development take time, and must be done right. But this is encouraging news,” Trudeau said.
He added the National Research Council will be working with the manufacturers so that if these vaccine trials are successful, the vaccine can be produced and distributed “here at home.”
The CCfV team of about 45 people is working with a potential vaccine from Chinese company CanSino Biologics.
Health Canada said in an email Saturday that their decision followed a careful review of the trial application, which “met the necessary requirements for safety and quality.”
Researchers say about 600 participants will be needed
Scott Halperin, director of the CCfV and a professor of pediatrics, microbiology and immunology at Dalhousie University, said they are building on trials that have already begun in China.
The vaccine strain, called Ad5-nCoV, uses