Health Canada posted on its website on Wednesday that the vaccine has now been authorised.
In a statement, Health Canada said the move was a “critical milestone” in the fight against Covid-19 - and stressed its review process had been “rigorous”.
Officials said they will “will closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is on the market and will not hesitate to take action if any safety concerns are identified”.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday that Canada would get up to 249,000 doses of the vaccine before the end of December, with 4 million doses of the vaccine expected by March.
Canada has purchased 20 million doses of this vaccine, with an option to buy 56 million more.
Health Canada is currently reviewing three other vaccine candidates, including one from Moderna.
The nation’s first coronavirus vaccine green light comes under a new interim order system that allows for accelerated approval very similar to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emer-gency use authorizations.
On Wednesday regulators issued a warning that people who have a history of “significant” allergic reactions should not currently receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine after two people who had the jab on Tuesday had allergic reactions.
Two NHS staff members who received the vaccine on the first day of the mass vaccination programme suffered an allergic reaction, the NHS in England has confirmed.
A final analysis of the Phase 3 trial of the vaccine shows it was 95 per cent effective in preventing infections.
The pandemic has killed almost 1.5 million people worldwide.
