Canada receiving 3.2M doses of Novavax vaccine, will distribute provincewide

Health Canada says the government has started to receive shipments of the Novavax (Nuvaxovid) COVID-19 vaccine and will begin to distribute doses to various provinces.

The health agency said on Thursday that the government had secured 3.2 million doses of the vaccine, which was authorized in Canada on February 17, 2022.

It’s currently approved for any adult over 18.

In 2021, Ottawa signed a deal to produce the Novavax vaccine in Canada, and a manufacturing plant was constructed in Montreal.

“The Novavax Nuvaxovid vaccine provides an additional vaccine option for those who want a protein-based vaccine or who are unable to receive mRNA vaccines,” Health Canada said.

As of Thursday, one million Novavax vaccine doses have been distributed in the country. Ontario has received the most doses with just over 383,000, followed by Quebec (221,100), British Columbia (135,800).

EXPLAINER: How does the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine work?

The Novavax vaccine is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus, mixed with an immune-boosting chemical. That’s similar to shots used for years against other diseases like hepatitis B.

It’s a different technology than the Pfizer and Moderna options that deliver genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike protein. Health experts and officials have said that a non-mRNA vaccine could win over some vaccine-hesitant people who have still not received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Novavax shots have been cleared for use in other countries, including Britain, Europe, Australia and Singapore.

The Novavax vaccine was evaluated in two Phase 3 trials in the U.S. and Mexico. In a group of 25,452 participants, the trials determined that the estimated efficacy against “PCR-confirmed, symptomatic COVID-19 illness with onset at least seven days after dose two” was 90 per cent.

“The estimate of efficacy against the secondary endpoint of prevention of PCR-confirmed, symptomatic moderate or severe COVID-19 beginning at least seven days after Dose 2 in participants not previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 was 100 per cent,” Health Canada writes on the government website.

Health Canada says there is no current data available on vaccine efficacy and effectiveness against the Delta or Omicron variants. There is “limited immunogenicity data” for these variants from the clinical trial on booster doses, Canada’s health agency said.

In February 2022, Novavax said that its COVID-19 vaccine proved safe and effective in a study of 12- to 17-year-olds. That study, conducted in the summer, enrolled 2,247 U.S. kids ages 12 to 17 and found the two-dose vaccine was 80 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 infection.

Roughly 96 million vaccines have been distributed in Canada, including just over 36 million doses in Ontario.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said on Thursday that over 90 per cent of all eligible Ontarians had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

With files from The Associated Press