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Dr. Supriya Sharma

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Another COVID-19 Vaccine Approved In Canada

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Health Canada has approved the country’s first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for adults.

Novavax’s Nuvaxovid vaccine received approval from the federal health agency on Thursday.

Overall clinic trials show the vaccine is 90 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and 100 per cent effective at preventing severe disease, according to Health Canada.

“Preliminary data available at this time suggests that the vaccine also produces neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant, but more data is still needed,” said Dr. Supriya Sharma, senior medical advisor at Health Canada.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) continues to recommend mRNA vaccines for most people due to their “excellence protection and well-established safety profiles,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer.

NACI recommends that the Novavax vaccine may be offered to people who are unable or willing to receive an mRNA vaccine.

Sharma said both vaccine types have the same objective — to expose a person’s immune system to the SARS-CoV2 spike protein and activate the immune system to make antibodies — but their approach is different.

“mRNA vaccines contain molecular manufacturing instructions for our cells to make the spike protein. With a protein subunit vaccine, a modified version of the spike protein itself is delivered,” said Sharma.

“These vaccines cannot cause COVID-19 because they only contain small purified pieces of proteins and not the virus itself.”

Tam said having more authorized COVID-19 vaccines can help remove barriers to vaccination by providing another option to adults who have not yet received a vaccine.

She said the first doses are expected to arrive in Canada in March.

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Health Canada Approves Pill For COVID-19

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Pfizer Canada has received Health Canada approval for a use of a new COVID treatment in tablet form.

Paxlovid is intended for high-risk adults, 18 and older, who develop mild-to-moderate symptoms.

Dr. Supriya Sharma from Health Canada says a recent study on unvaccinated people who have COVID-19 symptoms showed Paxlovid to be very effective.

“The study showed that treatment with Paxlovid compared with no treatment, reduced the risk of hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 by 89 percent when the medications were started within three days of the beginning of symptoms and 85 percent when started within five days,” states Dr. Sharma.

Dr. Sharma suggests studies show the pills are effective against the omicron variant.

“The recent data also included laboratory information confirming the effectiveness of the medication against the omicron variant. This submission included data from a clinical trial conducted in unvaccinated, non-hospitalized, high-risk adults, having COVID-19 symptoms.”

The pharmaceutical company says it will begin shipping it out as soon as possible.

Pfizer signed an agreement with the federal government for one million units this year.

Alexandra Hilkene is a spokesperson for the Minister of Health in Ontario and she issued the following statement:

“Ontario welcomes the news that Health Canada has approved Pfizer’s antiviral, Paxlovid.

We expect to receive approximately 10,000 courses of treatment from the federal government in January with details on timing of shipments to be confirmed.

Based on the limited supply we expect to receive from the federal government, we have worked with our hospital partners and are prepared for distribution of antivirals at 15 sites across the province as soon we receive them. Courses will initially be prioritized for adults with the highest risk of severe outcomes including immunocompromised patients and could help keep thousands of people out of our hospitals.

The arrival of these pills gives us increased confidence as we continue to review key indicators and data to determine when we can begin safely and gradually lifting public health measures, and we look forward to providing additional details in the near future.”

(With files from Randy Thoms)