Trudeau government inks deal with two companies to supply COVID-19 vaccine.

This morning, Pfizer Canada and BioNTech SE announced that they have come to an agreement with the Government of Canada to supply the COVID-19 vaccine "BNT162 mRNA" subject to Health Canada approval and clinical success.

The deal sets in motion a major distribution system that will see the final products of the current BNT162 vaccine candidates make their way into Canadian hospitals. The current candidates for the vaccine are still in clinical studies and have yet to be approved by any country.

Pfizer and BioNTech SE have undertaken a massive global campaign and have committed to manufacture 100 million doses of vaccine by the end of this year, and more than one billion by the end of next year. They dubbed their current conquest of the virus "Project Lightspeed," and are currently in Phase 2b/3 of their safety and efficacy trials.

Despite their need for speed both companies say they are "committed to developing these novel vaccines with pre-clinical and clinical data at the forefront of all their decision-making." The financial aspects of the deal were not released, but the contract details say terms were based on the time of delivery and the dose volumes.

Minister of Public Services and Procurement, Hon. Anita Anand said "As the development of effective COVID-19 vaccines continues around the world, we commend the work of Pfizer and BioNTech, which will provide Canadians access to a vaccine candidate for the virus. This agreement is another critical step in our government’s efforts to keep Canadians safe and healthy as the pandemic continues to evolve."

Anand told media on Wednesday that all vaccines would require approval from Health Canada before administration. The contracts reflect the requirement for Health Canada's approval, and once that has occurred, that deliveries would be made in 2021.