Toronto, December 9: The drug regulator in Canada, on Wednesday, announced the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate jointly developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German drugmaker BioNTech. With this clearance, the North American country became the third in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The first approval for the mRNA-based vaccine came from the United Kingdom last week. The country, on Tuesday, also began the mass vaccination programme. The UK was followed by Bahrain, which also granted a regulatory approval to the vaccine candidate based on the data submitted before the drug clearance panel. Margaret 'Maggie' Keenan, 90-Year-Old, Receives First Shot of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine in UK; Watch Video.

Health Canada, the country's federal health agency, also decided to approve the vaccine after analysing the data on efficacy submitted by Pfizer and BioNTech. The approval clears the way for a nationwide immunisation drive, involving persons of all age groups and categories.

In the past week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had announced that Canada would be procuring 249,000 doses of the vaccine. The same would be made available for usage before the end of December. The rollout of vaccine, combined with a marginal deceleration of per-day case count, can allow the nation to easen the restrictions ahead of Christmas. Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Provides Immunity Within 10 Days of First Shot: US FDA.

In the past month, the Ontario province - which entails capital Toronto and houses the maximum population - imposed a stringent set of curbs to curb the pace of infection. Barring schools, all non-essential economic activities faced restrictions. Pubs and restaurants were asked to down their shutters earlier than the routine timings.

Similar restrictions have also been imposed in a number of American provinces, as well as the leading economies in Europe to control the pace of infections. Most of the western world has been hit by a "second wave" of the pandemic with the onset of colder months.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is also under consideration in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to decide on its clearance on Thursday. In an internal review meeting earlier this week, the regulatory body found the vaccine candidate as safe and effective. The vaccine succeeds in providing immunity within 10 days of inoculation, the FDA was reported as saying in internal documents.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 09, 2020 10:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).