Health Canada will announce on Thursday that the first bivalent vaccine adapted to the Omicron variant will be licensed and available to the population.
• Read also: US authorizes new version of vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna targeting Omicron
Canada has already ordered 12 million doses of this vaccine which attacks both the original strain of the virus and the BA.4 and BA.5 lines of the Omicron variant, which account for the overwhelming majority of positive cases at the current time.
The American manufacturer Moderna had submitted its request for approval to the federal agency last June. This new 50 microgram version should only be allowed for adults 18 years and older, to begin with.
Pfizer also submitted a submission for its bivalent vaccine version in late July, but approval by Health Canada will still have to wait. This vaccine will contain 30 micrograms per dose and will be authorized for ages 12 and older.
The federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, will reveal the details of the agreement during a press conference and will take the opportunity to “underline the importance of vaccination once morest COVID-19 before the arrival of the fall”, we said in a press release on Wednesday.
The authorization of this vaccine had been awaited for some time. It is a source of hope for preventing the spread of the virus, especially as autumn approaches and with the start of the school year in full swing.
“When the new vaccine arrives, we will change the current vaccine for the new one. We will not run out of stocks of the current vaccine, which is very effective in preventing complications, ”explained the Dr Luc Boileau, national director of public health for Quebec.
«[L’ancien] vaccine is not as effective [avec Omicron] it will have been with other variants to prevent infection, but it is very effective in preventing complications. If we do not want to find ourselves in contexts of heavy complications with hospitalizations, we must take advantage of it”, continued the Dr Boileau.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday gave the green light to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer simultaneously.
– With the collaboration of Raymond Filion, TVA Nouvelles.
