Vaccine production is nearly three years behind schedule at a federally owned plant in Montreal and the future of a deal between Ottawa and an American company to make COVID-19 vaccines here is now under review.
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Vaccine manufacturer won’t be making COVID shots at Montreal plant this winter
At the height of the pandemic in February of 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he had found a partner to make millions of doses…
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COVID-19 boosters start rolling out to some Canadians. Who can get them?
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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For Canadians seeking a non-mRNA COVID vaccine, lack of Novavax shot is ‘unfair,’ advocates say
The federal government’s decision to not provide Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine this respiratory virus season raises health equity concerns, experts and advocates say, as some Canadians look to the U.S. to get the shot.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said it won’t provide the protein-based vaccine called Nuvaxovid because the manufacturer required a minimum order that far exceeds last year’s uptake of the vaccine.
The health agency said 125,000 Nuvaxovid doses were ordered in 2023, but only 5,529 were administered. This fall, it will only supply provinces and territories with the reformulated Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
But some Canadians who say they are immunocompromised and have had adverse reactions to the mRNA vaccines are calling the decision unfair.
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Canadian government not ordering Novavax’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine this year
TORONTO – The Public Health Agency of Canada says it is not providing Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine this respiratory virus season, citing low demand.
It says the manufacturer requires a minimum order of its updated protein-based vaccine, called Nuvaxovid, which far exceeds the uptake by Canadians last year.
The agency says a very small portion of the doses ordered in 2023 were used and that its decision reflects efforts to limit vaccine wastage.
It is distributing two mRNA vaccines — made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — that are approved for adults and children six months and older.
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Health Canada approves Pfizer-BioNTech’s updated COVID-19 vaccine
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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Moderna’s updated COVID-19 vaccine is coming to Alberta, but Novavax shots are not
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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No good option: These Canadians want to be protected against COVID but are unhappy with the choice of vaccines this fall
The federal government has decided against procuring a protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for the fall immunization campaign — despite it being the only type that some immunocompromised people say they have been able to tolerate.
While the mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna are effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death, some people with autoimmune diseases say the jabs can come with a terrible trade-off.
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No Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in Canada this fall, immunocompromised N.B. woman feels ‘expendable’
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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Novavax now! We need access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine!
📣 Let PHAC and health ministers know you want timely access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine this fall
✉️ Send letters to PHAC and health ministers to voice your support for access to the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine this fall. Use our online tool to send emails.
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FDA may greenlight updated Covid-19 vaccines as soon as next week, sources say
The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to sign off as soon as next week on updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting more recently circulating strains of the virus, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as the country experiences its largest summer wave in two years.
The agency is expected to greenlight updated mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that target a strain of the virus called KP.2, said the sources, who declined to be named because the timing information isn’t public. It was unclear whether the agency simultaneously would authorize Novavax’s updated shot, which targets the JN.1 strain.
The move would be several weeks ahead of last year’s version of the vaccine, which got FDA signoff on September 11.
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Analysis finds positive risk-benefit for Novavax COVID vaccine
An analysis of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine using clinical and real-world data found that the benefits outweighed the risk of myocarditis or pericarditis, a team…
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Older, immunocompromised people may get COVID-19 vaccine dose in spring, NACI says
Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization says some groups of people vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19 should be eligible for another dose of vaccine in the spring.
The recommendation issued Friday says people aged 65 and older, residents of long-term care homes and seniors living in other congregate settings may get another shot of the vaccine targeted to the XBB.1.5 variant.
It also says children and adults aged six months and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised due to an underlying condition may also get the booster.
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Albertans can now book appointments for the updated Novavax vaccine
A limited supply of the updated Novavax vaccine is rolling out in Alberta this week with appointment booking starting Wednesday and shots going into arms as of Friday.
Alberta Health said it has approximately 5,000 doses of the Novavax XBB.1.5 vaccine in stock.
The latest version of the protein-based vaccine was approved by Health Canada in early December.
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Just 15% of Canadians got updated COVID vaccines this fall, new figures show
Canadians raced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first years of the pandemic, but data suggests there’s far less of a rush to get the latest shots available this fall.
Federal figures show only 15 per cent of the population aged five and up had received an updated vaccine by Dec. 3. And while older age groups had higher uptake rates, more than half of higher-risk older adults still hadn’t gotten a dose by early December, either.
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Health Canada approves updated Novavax vaccine to protect against COVID-19
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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Does Novavax’s Covid vaccine cause fewer side effects?
Erin Kissane, a co-founder of the COVID Tracking Project, rolled up her sleeve for the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine in mid-October soon after it was finally recommended in the United States. Like many people with autoimmune diseases, she wants to protect herself from a potentially devastating Covid infection.
Kissane’s autoimmune arthritis seems to make her susceptible to unusual vaccine side effects. After getting an mRNA booster last year, her joints ached so painfully that her doctor prescribed steroids to dampen the inflammation. She still considers the mRNA vaccines “miraculous,” knowing Covid could be far worse than temporary aches.
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Is the Novavax COVID Vaccine Better than mRNA Vaccines? What We Know So Far
As the updated COVID vaccines roll out around the country, one more competitor has joined the mix. In early October the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a new booster shot made by the company Novavax. Like the mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna shots, it targets a SARS-CoV-2 variant, XBB.1.5, which is a descendant of Omicron.
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