OTTAWA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Health Canada said Tuesday it has authorized the use of the Moderna SPIKEVAX COVID-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant for people six months of age and older.
According to a statement issued by the national health regulator, individuals five years of age and older should receive one dose, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination history. Children between six months and four years of age should receive two doses if they have not been previously vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine, or one dose if they have been previously vaccinated with one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The agency is also actively reviewing submissions from Pfizer-BioNTech seeking authorization of their COVID-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant for people six months of age and older, the statement said.
In addition, the agency has received a submission from Novavax for their COVID-19 vaccine targeting the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant for people 12 years and older. These submissions are being reviewed on a priority basis by dedicated scientific teams, the statement said.
All of the vaccines used in Canada are very effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, Health Canada said, adding that since vaccine protection decreases over time, if it has been six months since the last dose, vaccination with the new formulation of COVID-19 vaccine is recommended to provide better protection against variants of concern.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said on Tuesday COVID-19 activity indicators continue to increase nationwide and recombinant XBB sub-lineages continue to be dominant, representing nearly 99 percent of sequences in the past month.
National percent positivity has been steadily increasing in recent weeks with percent positivity at 15.1 percent in the latest reporting week. The weekly rates of COVID-19 cases hospitalized and admitted to ICU remained highest among individuals aged 80 years and older, according to the PHAC. ■
