Health Canada approves Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine booster
Posted Nov 9, 2021 10:10 am.
Last Updated Nov 9, 2021 11:18 am.
Health Canada has approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine as a booster shot.
The agency says the booster is authorized for use in people 18 years and older, and is to be administered at least six months after a person has received their full course of vaccination against COVID-19.
Dr. Brian Conway with the Vancouver Infectious Diseases Centre says the authorization essentially updates the drug’s label to bring it in line with what is being done in practice in some provinces, like B.C., where the province is already administering the drug as an additional dose to certain groups.
“This is the regulators catching up with what seems to be effective in clinical practice,” he told CityNews.
Pfizer submitted its booster for approval to Health Canada on Oct. 1. Health Canada says it came to its decision after an independent review of data was conducted, noting the drug was found to have met the agency’s “stringent safety, efficacy, and quality requirements.”
(1/5) Health Canada has authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty #CovidVaccine as a booster shot to be used in adults 18 years of age and older at least six months after completing their primary vaccine series. pic.twitter.com/4aehiA8I9B
— Health Canada and PHAC (@GovCanHealth) November 9, 2021
The booster shot is a full dose of the regular vaccine, which was first approved for emergency use in Canada last December.
“Evidence continues to show that being fully vaccinated provides strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19, including against the Delta variants,” Health Canada says.
While the federal body has approved the Comirnaty booster for use, it will be up to the individual provinces to decide if or how they want to roll them out.
“I think it’s good to have it labelled on the product because you’re not doing off-label usage, which is important,” explained Dr. Omar Khan, a biomedical engineer out of the University of Toronto.
He notes Pfizer applying for authorization of its shot for booster use is also a sign that the company is standing by its product — fully.
“And that’s important,” he said.
Read more: NACI says those who received 2 AstraZeneca doses should be eligible for COVID-19 booster
Most provinces have already begun rolling out booster shots to their populations, beginning with people who are deemed higher-risk, such as the elderly.
Many of the provinces have announced plans to further expand booster eligibility in the coming weeks and months.
Last month, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) released further guidance to provincial and territorial governments about additional vaccine doses, saying boosters should be offered to all eligible adults in First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities, frontline health care workers, and seniors.
NACI also recommended boosters be given to people who had received AstraZeneca as their first two doses, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
