OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian health experts are sure all COVID-19 vaccines being administered in the country are safe, including those made by AstraZeneca PLC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Monday.
Germany became the latest in a number of European nations that have stopped using AstraZeneca doses on Monday after reports of recipients falling ill.
“Our health experts … collect data continuously and they assure us that all the vaccines offered in Canada are safe and effective, including those from AstraZeneca,” Trudeau told a televised news conference in Montreal.
“We are obviously watching what is happening with a specific batch in Europe. We can reassure all Canadians that no AstraZeneca doses came from the same batch,” he said.
Canada approved the AstraZeneca vaccine last month and has ordered 20 million doses. Ottawa has also secured an additional 2 million doses through an agreement with the Serum Institute of India and expects to get them by mid-May.
Trudeau spoke at an event with Francois Legault, premier of the populous province of Quebec, who said the provincial health ministry felt the AstraZeneca vaccine posed no risks.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Richard Chang)
