MPs on the public accounts committee have voted unanimously to view unredacted copies of COVID-19 vaccine contracts signed between vaccine manufacturers and the federal government. “Following united opposition pressure, the Public Accounts Committee has just ordered the production of contracts between the Government of Canada and vaccine manufacturers for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines. Now…

A COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing company in Quebec is set to cease all operations after its owner and sole shareholder decided to pull investments because of “significant changes” in the COVID vaccine-making industry. Medicago Inc., which is headquartered in Quebec City and was the manufacturer of the plant-based COVID vaccine, Covifenz, announced on Feb. 3 that it will not…

International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan says he wants the World Health Organization to greenlight Medicago’s COVID-19 shot so it can be donated and used by the COVAX vaccine-sharing alliance. But he says Canada’s ability to get more doses out the door to lower-income countries depends mostly on getting reassurance they can and will be used…

The World Health Organization says it is expecting to reject the COVID-19 vaccine candidate from Canada’s Medicago because of the company’s ties to big tobacco. The Medicago Covifenz vaccine was authorized in Canada last month. Dr. Mariângela Simão, WHO’s assistant director general for drug access, vaccines and pharmaceuticals, says the application for Covifenz to get…

OTTAWA—Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says Canada’s biomanufacturing sector has rebounded beyond his initial expectations in the last several months, as a Canadian drug maker stands poised to bring positive results from the first plant-based COVID-19 vaccine to Health Canada. At the outset of the pandemic, Canada’s lack of biomanufacturing capability came into sharp focus, and…