'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Europe's medicines regulator said on Friday it had approved the production of Johnson & Johnson's single-dose COVID-19 vaccine at an additional site in Italy, as it looks to speed up the supply of the shot in the European Union.
The approval came after the EU said J&J was expected to miss its EU supply target for the second quarter after millions of doses were banned for use in Europe over safety concerns following a contamination incident at a U.S. site.
The Italian site, located in Anagni and operated by U.S.-based Catalent, will help with vial filling and packaging of the vaccine developed by J&J, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.
EU governments have been asking Johnson & Johnson at least since January to use the Italian plant for bottling J&J vaccines produced in Europe, EU internal documents show.
But the application for the approval of the Italian plant was submitted only last week, on June 18, the EMA told Reuters.
Under the EU's supply contract J&J had agreed to carry out so-called fill & finish at its sites in the United States at least for the first months of its rollout, even if that meant a double transatlantic transfer for shots produced in Europe.
Johnson & Johnson has a vaccine factory in Leiden, in the Netherlands, operated by its unit Janssen.
A spokesman for the European Commission said the EU executive welcomed the approval of the Italian factory as it could help speed up production and vaccinations. But it declined to comment on the timing of the application.
J&J has committed to delivering 200 million doses to the bloc this year, of which 55 million were expected by the end of June, but has so far shipped less than 15 million vaccines to the bloc.
The U.S. company is also forecast to deliver only 7 million doses in July to the EU, an EU Commission's document shared on Thursday with EU leaders showed.
It is not clear how many doses the J&J factory in Leiden is producing. The company has repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether there may be production problems there.
The EMA said on Friday its recommendation to allow production at the Italian site did not need formal approval from the European Commission and the facility can become operational immediately.
Catalent said it was "prepared to deliver large scale commercial volumes from the site as soon as is practicable."
Catalent and J&J in March https://www.catalent.com/catalent-news/catalent-expands-partnership-with-johnson-johnson-to-significantly-increase-capacity-for-sterile-manufacturing-and-packaging-of-covid-19-vaccine-in-italy expanded their partnership to start production in Anagni by the end of this year, and help support production of the vaccine through late 2022 by reserving an additional vial-filling line at the site.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru, Francesco Guarascio in Brussels and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Elaine Hardcastle and Louise Heavens)
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
The Edmonton Oilers will start Calvin Pickard in net Tuesday for Game 4 of their playoff series with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than US$1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, two congressional aides said Tuesday.
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
The province has released more information on its plan to break up Alberta Health Services and replace it with four sector-based health agencies.
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.