Health Canada finds Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Baltimore plant safe, of high quality

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is inoculated with AstraZeneca's vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a pharmacy in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 23, 2021. REUTERS/Blair Gable

(Reuters) - Canada's health department said on Sunday the 1.5 million doses of the Astrazeneca Plc COVID-19 vaccine imported from Emergent BioSolutions' Baltimore facility were safe and met quality specifications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had stopped AstraZeneca from using the facility earlier this month and halted production of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine at the plant as it began investigations into an error that led to millions of doses of J&J's vaccine being ruined last month.

However, Health Canada said it reviewed test results of all vaccine lots that came into the country and found them to be safe.

J&J doses produced at the Baltimore, Maryland, site have not entered the country, the regulator said, adding that vaccines from the company anticipated to be imported next week were not made at that facility.

(Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft)