Health Canada is expected to announce the authorization of Moderna’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine targeting Omicron on Thursday, CTV News confirmed through high-level government sources.
Moderna submitted its bivalent recall to Health Canada for regulatory approval on June 30, with the goal of making it available this fall.
The booster for people aged 12 and over targets both the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the Omicron variant.
The federal government has already purchased 12 million doses of the vaccine, with supply expected this year.
Pfizer-BioNTech has also submitted its bivalent recall for regulatory review. This submission was forwarded to Canada’s federal health regulator on July 25.
“Our regulatory colleagues at Health Canada are working very quickly to review the submissions from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech on bivalent booster doses,” said Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer, during a press conference on August 22.
“We also secured sufficient supply of the bivalent formulation should regulatory authorities need to license the vaccines,” Tam said.
Questions have been raised about whether Canadians should wait until bivalent doses are available before rolling up their sleeves for an extra dose, which Tam said is a decision that should be made based on individual risk factors.
Following a technical briefing with officials from the Public Health Agency of Canada on Thursday, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos is to make an announcement on “the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 as fall approaches.
With files from CTV News’ Mackenzie Gray and Kevin Gallagher