Health Canada on Tuesday authorized Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine, which is being rolled out to people six months and older in the fall vaccination campaigns.
The federal vaccination portal lists approval of Moderna’s product.
A Moderna spokesperson said the company will deliver the product to the Public Health Agency of Canada within a day or two and expects “a significant supply will be available in time for provincial and territorial vaccination campaigns, but specific timing will depend on the provinces.”
Omikron offshoots circulate
The pharmaceutical company said the vaccine targets the KP.2 variant, one of Omicron’s newest offshoots. Based on Canadian viral sequence data, KP variants continue to dominate.
The worrying Omikron variant caused a huge wave of infections worldwide from November 2021 onwards.
In August, the federal government sent a notice to health care professionals stating that the previous COVID-19 vaccines targeting an earlier variant would no longer be available as “part of regulatory and supply management best practices consistent with the annual influenza vaccine approach.”
Health Canada is also expeditedly reviewing applications from Pfizer and Novavax for planned fall vaccination campaigns, which are intended to protect people from serious hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.
According to COVID-19 activity, the level is currently “moderate”. federal map of viral activity based on available wastewater data. Wastewater testing offers an early indicator of when respiratory viruses are on the rise, doctors and epidemiologists say.
Health officials recommend renewing the vaccine because the virus that causes COVID-19 continues to mutate, or change, and protection against infection and immunization decreases over time.