Moderna’s updated Covid-19 vaccine approved by Health Canada
Source：CBC News
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Toronto
Update Time：2023/10/04
Moderna's updated COVID-19 vaccine received approval from Health Canada for all Canadians who are six months of age and older — while two other options for fall shots remain in the regulatory pipeline.
Federal officials announced the approval on Sep. 12, 2023, two months after Moderna submitted its new formulation. The mRNA-based shot is monovalent, targeting just the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant, which means the vaccine is more tailored to the virus strains currently circulating.
It was reported by the company that its first newly approved doses should arrive in Canada and will continue to arrive over the course of the month, while Canadian officials expect deliveries to the provinces will start in October.
"I know we all wish COVID-19 no longer existed, but people are still getting infected, and vaccination continues to be one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves against serious outcomes," said Dr. Supriya Sharma, chief medical advisor at Health Canada, during a technical briefing.
Health Canada said Canadians age five and up should receive one dose, regardless of their COVID vaccination history. Meanwhile children from six months to four years old should receive two doses if they have not been previously vaccinated with a COVID vaccine, or one dose if they've previously had at least one dose.
Notably, federal officials aren't calling the shots boosters but instead stressed that these are updated options more similar to an annual flu shot. The COVID situation hasn't stabilized quite yet, Sharma said.
"The idea is we'll get to a place where it will be much more like the flu vaccines where people may be on a regular schedule, getting an updated vaccine," she said.
As for the best time to get another COVID shot, the department suggests waiting six months after your last dose since protection against infection does wane over time — though scientists say protection against serious illness is longer-lasting.
Health Canada is still reviewing submissions on a "priority basis" for updated shots from other drugmakers as well, including Pfizer-BioNTech's Omicron XBB.1.5 vaccine for Canadians age six months and up and Novavax's shot for people age 12 and up.
"We will have enough supply of the updated COVID-19 vaccines to support immunization programs across Canada," said Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, at the federal briefing. She added that preliminary clinical data has shown promising immune responses from the XBB.1.5 vaccine against various Omicron sublineages, including EG.5 and BA.2.86, and there are no signals of increased disease severity from these subvariants.
The push for new COVID shots comes amid a rise in cases heading into the fall, as country-wide hospitalizations are also climbing, hitting more than 2,000 by early September — though the number remains far lower than the highest peaks of the pandemic.
Physicians are hopeful that a fall booster campaign could further suppress virus transmission during what's expected to be another busy respiratory virus season.
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/moderna-approved-1.6963996