Ontario receives first shipment of bivalent, Omicron-specific vaccines
Posted September 8, 2022 12:04 pm.
Ontario has recieved its first shipment of bivalent vaccines that target the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones says long-term care residents and health care workers will be the first to recieve the newly-approved Moderna vaccination.
More information on when others might be able to book vaccine appointments is expected to be available in the coming days.
Health Canada approved Moderna’s new Spikevax Bivalent vaccine for use in adults 18 years of age and older last week.
The agency says the new mRNA-based vaccine is “indicated as a booster dose for the prevention” of COVID-19, and that the proposed dosing regimen is “an interval of at least four months” after a primary series of shots and/or a previous booster dose in people 18 and up.
Trial data showed that when given as a fourth dose, the variant-adapted booster raised antibodies by eight-fold against Omicron.
The pharamceutical company has said it will supply Canada with 12 million doses of its Omicron-targeted vaccine and they were expected to start arriving on Sept. 3.
The first shipment will include 780,000 doses, according to federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos. He notes Canada will have received 10.5 million doses by the end of the month.
The Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron-specific bivalent vaccine is still being reviewed by Health Canada.
With files from Hana Mae Nassar and Michael Ranger
