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Tag: Health Canada

Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Let’s put Montreal’s idle pharmaceutical plant to good use

Published November 28, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Montreal Gazette
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By Adam R. Houston, Jason Nickerson

When COVID-19 first struck, Canada had a problem: It lacked domestic capacity to manufacture vaccines. Today, the government of Canada faces the opposite problem: It owns a factory that isn’t manufacturing vaccines.

The Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) in Montreal was completed in 2021 at the cost of $126 million, and fully licensed by Health Canada in 2022. However, a 2021 deal with Novavax to produce their COVID-19 vaccine looks increasingly unlikely to produce a single dose. Indeed, despite annual operating costs around $17 million a year, the BMC has never produced anything.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

COVID-19 boosters start rolling out to some Canadians. Who can get them?

Published October 4, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Global News
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By Saba Aziz

Updated COVID-19 vaccines are starting to roll out to some high-risk Canadians, but others will have to wait a little while longer before these new shots are offered to them.

Last month, Health Canada approved Pfizer and Moderna’s latest COVID-19 vaccines targeting the most recent variants of the virus.

Both shots are approved for everyone aged six months and older.

The new mRNA vaccines from both pharmaceutical companies target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron that was dominating COVID-19 spread earlier this year.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine

Published September 24, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: The Canadian Press
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By Nicole Ireland, Hannah Alberga

Health Canada approved Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, marking its third authorization of vaccine formulations that protect against the most recently circulating variants of the virus.

Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, called Comirnaty, targets the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron, replacing the previous version that targeted the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant.

The approval of Comirnaty follows last week’s authorization of Moderna’s updated Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s updated protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid.

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Topic: AlbertaView all posts for the topic: Alberta

Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine is coming to Alberta, but Novavax shots are not

Published September 23, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
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By Jennifer Lee

With the approval of Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine, doctors are hoping the shots will be available soon and Albertans will opt to roll up their sleeves to get one.

Last week, Health Canada announced it had authorized Moderna’s new formulation, which targets the recent KP.2 subvariant, and that shipments would arrive within days.

A decision on Pfizer’s new formulation is expected in the next few weeks.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Health Canada approves updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

Published September 19, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
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By Lynn Chaya

An updated version of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by Canada’s health agency.

According to a Thursday update on the government’s vaccine portal, Health Canada will replace the older version of the protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid XBB.1.5. The new version will include an update to the antigen composition targeting the JN.1 variant.

“After a thorough scientific review Health Canada has approved the company’s JN.1 Variant vaccine,” the agency posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

No Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Canada this fall, immunocompromised N.B. woman feels ‘expendable’

Published September 6, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

Linda Wilhelm, 64, of Bloomfield, N.B., is planning a road trip to the United States. But it’s not to go sightseeing or shopping.

Wilhelm, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis, hopes to get the updated Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which won’t be available in Canada as part of the fall vaccination campaign, unless provinces and territories order doses on their own.

Wilhelm, president of the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and a member of the Canadian Immunocompromised Advocacy Network, says the protein-based vaccine is a better option for immunocompromised people like her than the more common Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines. She says she feels “expendable” and urges the federal government to reconsider.

Less than two months ago, the network wrote to numerous federal, provincial and territorial officials, calling for improved access to Novavax and increased awareness.

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Topic: British ColumbiaView all posts for the topic: British Columbia

COVID shots available in B.C. until new vaccines arrive: province

Published September 5, 2024

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Published by: CBC News / The Canadian Press
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British Columbia says its current supply of COVID-19 vaccines will remain available until new formulations are approved — unlike other provinces that say they’re following a federal directive to destroy existing doses.

A spokesperson for the provincial health officer says B.C. residents are encouraged to wait for the updated COVID vaccines if possible, but people can still get last season’s shots if they need them.

Officials in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan and say they are following instructions from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to dispose of vaccine stocks that target the XBB.1.5 variant, since updated formulations are expected this fall.

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Topic: vaccinesView all posts for the topic: vaccines

Health Canada orders provinces to destroy old COVID-19 vaccines amid wait for new batch

Published September 4, 2024

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Published by: CTV News
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By Luca Caruso-Moro

Health Canada has directed provinces to withdraw and destroy remaining supplies of last year’s COVID-19 vaccines while it works to authorize updated shots, which is expected to happen in October, according to Ontario’s health ministry.

“Vaccines will be available once Ontario receives supply from Health Canada following their regulatory authorization of the new, updated vaccine formulation,” read a statement from Ontario spokesperson Hannah Jensen.

A notice posted on the federal government’s immunization guide says vaccines aimed at Omicron variant XBB.1.5 is no longer available in Canada. Updated shots, made to target the now-dominant JN.1 or KP.2 strains are expected to get the green light “in the coming weeks.”

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Topic: pro-virus policiesView all posts for the topic: pro-virus policies

Video | Feds to stop providing free COVID-19 rapid tests

Published May 23, 2024

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Published by: Global News
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The federal government, which spent billions on COVID-19 rapid tests during the height of the pandemic, says it will stop supplying provinces and territories with those tests. Heidi Petracek explains the move, and the reaction from some provinces and doctors.

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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

Ottawa will stop providing COVID-19 rapid tests to regions

Published May 7, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
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By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon

The Canadian government plans to stop supplying provinces and territories with free COVID-19 rapid tests, which has an infection control epidemiologist worried about two-tiered health care, increased spread and increased health-care costs.

“The federal government continues to support Canada’s rapid testing needs while the federal inventory remains,” Health Canada spokesperson Nicholas Janveau told CBC News.

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Topic: PaxlovidView all posts for the topic: Paxlovid

Paxlovid to no longer be provided to provinces for free

Published April 1, 2024

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CTV News
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By Charles Lefebvre

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is no longer paying for an antiviral pill used to treat COVID-19.

The PHAC said it will no longer procure Paxlovid, which is intended to be used after being diagnosed with COVID, for provinces and territories.

“The provinces and territories are responsible for determining how best to implement and manage the available supply of COVID-19 therapeutics, including Paxlovid,” a spokesperson for Health Canada said in a statement.

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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

Health Canada ignored warning signs before Ottawa spent billions on BTNX rapid tests

Published January 11, 2024

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Published by: Global News
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By Patti Sonntag

Health Canada ignored critical warnings about a rapid-test supplier before approving its COVID-19 kits for distribution nationwide, Global News has found.

A year-long Global News investigation into federal procurement revealed that BTNX, a Toronto-area rapid-test supplier that buys the devices from China, deleted dozens of specimens, or samples, from a study it submitted to Health Canada in October 2020. Deleting the specimens increased the estimate of the rapid test’s ability to detect the virus.

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Topic: respiratory syncytial virusView all posts for the topic: respiratory syncytial virus

Health Canada approves RSV vaccine for maternal immunization

Published January 4, 2024

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Published by: CBC News
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By Jessica Wong

Health Canada has approved a new vaccine geared toward protecting two groups most severely affected by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV): newborns, who would receive antibodies through maternal immunization, and Canadians over 60.

Pfizer Canada’s bivalent vaccine, called Abrysvo, aims to prevent lower respiratory tract disease caused by the virus.

It is the first RSV vaccine in Canada approved for use in pregnancy to provide protection for infants from birth to six months of age, and the second approved for seniors aged 60 and over.

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Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

Rapid test supplier BTNX says Canadians can rely on its device’s accuracy

Published December 23, 2023

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Published by: Global News
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By Patti Sonntag

BTNX, the Canadian rapid test supplier that won an estimated $2 billion in federal contracts, denied that Health Canada used BTNX’s edited study to evaluate the rapid test kit that the federal government later purchased.

A year-long investigation into federal procurement published by Global News on Thursday revealed that Toronto area-based BTNX deleted dozens of specimens, or samples, from a study it submitted to Health Canada. That evaluation showed how well the company’s test detected COVID-19.

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COVID test supplier received billions in pandemic contracts after submitting edited resultsPhoto of two white COVID-19 rapid tests, and a green box with the text Rapid Response COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device
Topic: rapid testsView all posts for the topic: rapid tests

COVID test supplier received billions in pandemic contracts after submitting edited results

Published December 21, 2023

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: Global News
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By Patti Sonntag

A rapid test importer landed an estimated $2 billion in federal contracts in 2021 and 2022, despite giving regulators incomplete data about its product’s accuracy, Global News has found.

A year-long investigation into federal procurement revealed that BTNX, a small rapid test supplier based outside Toronto, deleted dozens of specimens, or samples, from a study it submitted to Health Canada. That evaluation showed how well the company’s test detected COVID-19.

The deletions made BTNX’s test appear more reliable and sensitive than it really was, according to researchers Global News consulted.

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Health Canada approves updated Novavax vaccine to protect against COVID-19Photo of bottles of Novavax vaccine.
Topic: NovavaxView all posts for the topic: Novavax

Health Canada approves updated Novavax vaccine to protect against COVID-19

Published December 5, 2023

Still COVIDing Canada Posts

Published by: CBC News
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Health Canada has authorized an adapted vaccine from Novavax to prevent COVID-19 in people age 12 and older.

The vaccine uses a traditional approach to defend the body against COVID.

It contains a version of the viral spike protein and is also authorized as a booster for those 18 and older, according to Health Canada’s webpage.

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Topic: life expectancyView all posts for the topic: life expectancy

‘Dramatic’ increases in younger Canadians’ deaths contributed to our reduced life expectancy

Published December 1, 2023

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Published by: CTV News
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By Charlie Buckley

Amid a declining life expectancy across the country, new national data released this week show that years on from the beginning of the pandemic, COVID-19…

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Topic: variantsView all posts for the topic: variants

‘It’s here’: COVID subvariant HV.1 growing in Canada. What to know so far

Published November 15, 2023

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Published by: Global News
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By Katie Dangerfield

A new COVID-19 subvariant called HV.1 is gaining traction across Canada, but whether or not it is more contagious than past variants remains to be seen, according to health experts.

Continue reading‘It’s here’: COVID subvariant HV.1 growing in Canada. What to know so far
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