Health Canada Gives Green Light to Revised Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine
Health Canada has authorized the updated COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech this week, making it the third vaccine formulation to receive approval this month.
The mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech is designed to target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron. Known as Comirnaty, the new vaccine replaces the prior shot that was meant to protect against the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant, the company said in a press release.
Comirnaty’s authorization follows last week’s approvals of Moderna’s updated Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s enhanced protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid.
Pfizer said the Comirnaty vaccine will be available as a single dose for adults and children aged five and older, “regardless of prior COVID-19 vaccination history.” Children under the age of five will need to receive the vaccine in three doses if they do not have a “history of completion of a COVID-19 primary vaccination course.”
The latest approval comes three weeks after Health Canada instructed the provinces to destroy existing inventories of last year’s COVID-19 vaccines.
Health Canada said at the time it was reviewing new vaccine submissions from Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax “on an expedited basis.” It told The Epoch Times it expected to authorize the vaccines “in time for planned fall campaigns.”
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When those vaccination campaigns begin will be decided by each province and territory, Public Health Agency of Canada spokesperson Anna Maddison said, adding that the supply will last for several months.
“Following regulatory authorization by Health Canada, vaccine doses are expected to begin arriving in Canada within days,” she said in an email to The Epoch Times.
“Canada has secured sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines to meet provincial and territorial demand requirements for fall and winter 2024 vaccination campaigns.”
Pfizer and Moderna say their latest vaccines target the KP.2 subvariant while the Novavax vaccine is aimed at targeting the JN.1 subvariant. KP.2 is a sublineage of the JN.1 strain.
While Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are approved for anyone six months of age and older, children must be 12 to receive the Novavax vaccine. Nuvaxovid’s product monograph says the vaccine has yet to be evaluated for safety and efficacy in children younger than 12.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
