Canada's COVID-19 Vaccine Expansion Reduced by Tobacco Relationship

Canadian media recently reported the World Health Organization (WHO) decided not to accept the plant-based, coronavirus-like particle Medicago Covifenz COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, citing the company's ties to the tobacco industry. 

Philip Morris Investments currently holds approximately 21% of the company's shares.

"Due to its connections — it's partially owned by Philip Morris — the process is put on hold," commented Mariangela Simao, WHO's assistant director-general for drug access, vaccines, and pharmaceuticals, on March 17, 2022.

This news indicates the Medicago vaccine would not be included in the COVAX global initiative without the WHO's authorization.

CBC News confirmed on March 25, 2022, Medicago stated it received an email with WHO's "preliminary decision" and is awaiting additional information, at which point the company will discuss the next steps with its partners and shareholders to get the vaccine to market."

"It is our understanding that this decision is linked to Medicago's minority shareholder and not the demonstrated safety and efficacy profile of our COVID-19 vaccine," commented president and CEO Takashi Nagao in a statement.

On February 24, 2022, Medicago and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced that Health Canada had approved Covifenz to prevent COVID-19 and would begin its local distribution.

Canada was the first and only country to grant this innovative COVID-19 vaccine authorization.

The Covifenz vaccination regimen calls for two doses given intramuscularly 21 days apart (3.75 micrograms of CoVLP antigen combined with GSK pandemic adjuvant in the same injection.

Note: This news article edited media, company, and government information for clarity and was manually curated for mobile readers.