Health Canada has approved a new COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, called Spikevax. This new variant is meant to help protect against the new variants of COVID-19.
As of right now, no previous COVID-19 vaccines are being used.
“Health Canada requires a full market withdrawal of previous COVID-19 vaccines to ensure supply of the updated vaccine is available in time for the upcoming respiratory illness season,” says a post from Ontario.ca.
But the new vaccines are expected to be in rotation shortly.
“The COVID vaccines are expected mid-October, so they may be a little bit earlier than that. It depends on when Pfizer gets approved,” says the Vaccine Preventable Disease Manager at Middlesex London Health Unit (MLHU). “Both of the vaccines are very similar to the previous vaccines. They just have the different strain in them this year.”
Clinical trials showed that beginning 2 weeks after the second dose, the Moderna Spikevax COVID vaccine was 94.1 per cent effective in protecting trial participants aged 18 and above against COVID-19,” says Canada.ca
When the rollout begins, it won’t be available to everybody for approximately two weeks. They will focus on vaccinating the most vulnerable.
“When it rolls out first, it’s supposed to go to high-risk individuals first. And that would include anybody over the age of 65, those who live in a long-term care home or retirement home,” says Thompson. “It would be those over six months of age with underlying medical conditions, those who are currently pregnant, First Nations, Métis, Inuit communities, racialized and equity deserving communities, and those who provide essential community services.”
Both the flu shot and COVID vaccine can be given at the same time.
“It’s only one visit to a health care provider you get protection from both on the same day,” says Thompson. “It’s all happening at the same time, basically the high-risk criteria for who gets to go first for COVID is the same as who gets to go first for flu there’s just a couple of differences there, and then all rolls out around October 28th.”
