Canada confirmed the cancellation of the Covid-19 vaccine trial agreement by Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino due to delay in shipping.

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC), which operates with the government's budget, said on August 29 that clinical trials with the Ad5-nCoV vaccine by Chinese pharmaceutical company CanSino will not be

According to the NRC, the decision was made due to the delayed delivery of the vaccine to Canada and the fact that the CanSino company has completed Phase One and Phase Two clinical trials elsewhere.

The NRC previously signed an agreement with CanSino to conduct a Phase One vaccine clinical trial in May. Earlier this week, despite media reports, CanSino confirmed that the cooperation between the two sides was not canceled.

Ad5-nCoV, led by Chinese military scientists, General Chen Wei, and Tianjin-based pharmaceutical company CanSino, was jointly developed.

NRC said it is shifting its focus to North American partners and is working with Massachusetts-based VBI Vaccines, the University of Saskatchewan and the Infectious Diseases and Vaccines Foundation.

"We are actively in discussions with other partners to collaborate on other vaccine candidates and will announce it once the deal is confirmed," added the NRC.

It is unclear whether political tensions between Canada and China are related to the delayed shipment of vaccine shipments.

Beijing has not released any public announcement of changes to the vaccine shipment requirements, while customs declined to answer questions about the reasons for the holding.

Phase three trials with the Ad5-nCoV vaccine are underway in Russia and Saudi Arabia.