Canada on Wednesday approved its first Covid-19 vaccine, clearing the way for doses of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE shots to be delivered and administered across the country.

Canada is the third country after the United Kingdom and Bahrain to give the green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Canada has a temporary accelerated drug review system very similar to the US Food and Drug Administration's emergency use authorizations.

"The approval of the vaccine is supported by evidence that it is safe, effective and of good quality," regulator Health Canada said in a statement. It has initially been authorized for use in people 16 years of age or older.

The news comes a day before a panel of advisers to the FDA is set to review and recommend whether the US agency should authorize use of the Pfizer vaccine, and a day after UK citizens become the first in the world to get the shots outside of clinical trials.

Canada will receive an early shipment of up to 249,000 doses of Pfizer's vaccine this year. The province of Saskatchewan said on Wednesday it expected to receive enough doses for 1,950 people by Tuesday to inoculate healthcare workers in direct contact with Covid-19 patients.

"Today's decision from Health Canada is a historic moment in our collective fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and is a major step towards returning to normalcy in Canada," said Cole Pinnow, president of Pfizer Canada, in a statement.

The UK, on December 2, was first to approve the two-dose Pfizer vaccine, which in a large clinical trial was 95% effective at preventing illness.