Health Canada Approves First Bivalent Covid 19 Vaccine Targeting Omicron Variant

Health Canada approves an updated version of Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron variant, making it the first “bivalent” COVID-19 vaccine approved for use in this country. The federal department has approved the updated formulation for use as a booster vaccine in adults. Offers better protection than Omicron BA.1 – the original strain of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 – from Moderna’s original vaccine, according to a study comparing the two versions. Health Canada said the new vaccine is also effective against the latest Omicron subvariants, which have been responsible for an increasing number of COVID-19 infections in Canada in recent months. The approval marks a new stage in the pandemic – one in which modifications to mRNA vaccines enable a near-real-time response to the changing profile of the virus. Everything you need to know about bivalent vaccines against COVID-19 Canada is receiving 10.5 million doses of the vaccine, known as “Spikevax Bivalent,” later this month, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said during a news conference Thursday. Asked when the average Canadian would be able to access the updated amplifier, Mr. Duclos said “supply is not an issue.” “We are fully prepared for the fall vaccination campaign,” he said. “Provinces and territories will be able to start vaccination with the new bivalent vaccines probably as early as next week.” Over the summer, the prospect of a booster targeting Omicron created some confusion among Canadians trying to decide whether to get a third or fourth shot of existing vaccines or wait for the new formulation. On Thursday, Public Health Canada Director General Theresa Tam told reporters that a booster dose of any of the original vaccines is still preferable to no booster at all. Moderna’s new formulation is known as a bivalent vaccine because it targets two strains of coronavirus: the original strain that emerged in 2019 and the Omicron BA.1 variant. “It’s essentially two vaccines in one,” Health Canada chief medical adviser Supriya Sharma said at a technical briefing Thursday. “While the vaccine was designed to more specifically target the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, we know that this vaccine also generates a good immune response against the more recently emerged Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.” The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) generally recommends that boosters be offered to Canadians six months after their last dose of vaccine or their last infection with COVID-19. “Vaccine protection is like a phone battery. It needs to be recharged from time to time,” Mr Duclos said on Thursday. “Recharging our protection after six months is important.” NACI recommends anyone 18 years of age or older that qualify for a booster receive a bivalent version. The committee said in a statement Thursday that children ages 12 to 17 who are moderately to severely immunocompromised or otherwise at “high risk of serious outcomes” from COVID-19 may be offered an “off-label” bivalent vaccine. Dr. Sharma said the vaccine approved Thursday has been studied in humans and found to be “nearly identical” to Moderna’s original COVID-19 vaccine in terms of safety. On Wednesday, United States regulators approved their first bivalent vaccines for COVID-19. The updated formulations — from both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — are designed to target Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which currently cause most cases of COVID-19 in the US. A. How much death, disease and disorder from COVID-19 infections are we willing to live with? Moderna and Pfizer have not yet submitted the BA.4 and BA.5 bivalent vaccines to Health Canada for approval. Health Canada expects a submission from Pfizer as early as next week and from Moderna within the next two weeks, Dr. Sharma said. Pfizer-BioNTech submitted a bivalent BA.1 vaccine for approval in late July, according to Pfizer spokeswoman Christina Antoniou. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief of public health, added during the technical briefing that Canada is not alone in procuring a bivalent vaccine targeting BA.1. Earlier this month Britain approved the same as Canada. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, emphasized that while BA.1 and BA.5 are different subtypes of Omicron, they are still both Omicron. He said the BA.1-adapted vaccine is “much closer” to the strains of the virus currently on the market than vaccines designed for the original strain of COVID-19. The newly approved vaccine, he added, “will be an important vaccine as we move into the fall and as we see an expected spike in COVID cases sometime in the fall and winter.” Dr. Bogoch noted that a recent study from Portugal showed that people who had BA.1 or BA.2 infections had substantial protection against BA.5 — though he added that vaccine immunity and infection immunity are not the same. The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.

title: “Health Canada Approves First Bivalent Covid 19 Vaccine Targeting Omicron Variant Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-18” author: “Wendy Jacobs”

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