Safety won't be compromised for vaccine, Canada's top doctors say

The chief public health officer says Canada will not cut corners to get a vaccine for COVID-19 approved.

Dr. Theresa Tam says she has full confidence in Health Canada's process to approve a vaccine.

She says she is cautiously optimistic that will happen soon but says safety will not be compromised to get there. Her words come as Russia approved the world's first COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday.

Her deputy, Dr. Howard Njoo, says the Russian product went from discovery to approval unusually fast.

He says there is not really any information available about the safety or effectiveness of the Russian vaccine or how many people were involved in the testing.