Health Canada announced on Friday that Canadians aged 12 and older will now be eligible to receive a new approved bivalent vaccine, the first to target the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron family, as a booster.
This approval granted to Pfizer-BioNTech is the second to occur in the country for a bivalent vaccine, that is to say a formula that specifically protects both against the original strain of COVID-19 and against a more recent variant.
Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Supriya Sharma, pointed out in a press briefing that a large quantity of this vaccine has already been administered in the United States and that no adverse effects of particular concern have been detected.
At his side, the Deputy Chief Administrator of the Public Health Agency of Canada, Dr. Howard Njoo, indicated that a first delivery of doses would soon arrive in Canada.
“I am pleased to announce that Canada will have sufficient supplies of the bivalent vaccines targeting the Omicron variant to meet the anticipated demand for booster doses,” he said.
However, he urged anyone who already has a COVID-19 vaccination appointment to take any of the authorized vaccines offered to them immediately.
“Our data demonstrates that all vaccines approved (by Health Canada) remain effective,” added Dr. Sharma.
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos is also due to hold a press briefing later Friday.
Health Canada licensing means the vaccine can be given three to six months after a second dose of the primary vaccine series or after the most recent booster dose.
It is the second “bivalent vaccine” to be given the green light by Health Canada’s vaccine review team, but the first to target the most common viral strains in Canada.
Moderna’s bivalent vaccine approved five weeks ago targets the original virus and Omicron’s first variant, while Pfizer’s vaccine approved on Friday targets Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
However, according to Health Canada, 88% of the cases of COVID-19 identified in mid-September were of the BA.5 strain and 9% of the BA.4 strain.
“The booster vaccine is expected to elicit a strong immune response against the SARS-CoV-2 index virus as well as Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants,” Health Canada said in a statement.
With information from Mia Rabson