Country dumps millions of COVID-19 vax as demand wanes
Canada is to throw out about 13.6 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine because it cannot find any takers for it either at home or abroad.
The Canadian Government signed a contract with AstraZeneca in 2020 for 20 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine and 2.3 million Canadians were inoculated with it, mostly between March and June 2021.
Following concerns in the early months of 2021 about the rare risks of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome from the vaccine, Canada moved its focus to using the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna.
In July 2021, Canada promised to donate the rest of its supply, about 17.7 million doses.