Infants and Preschoolers Can Now Get Vaccinated: Health Canada Approves First COVID-19 Vaccine for Children Under Five

Ontario expects supply of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for younger children by the end of next week

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Canada’s drug regulator has approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for infants and preschool children, making it the first approved vaccine for that age group in the country.

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Health Canada now says the Moderna vaccine can be given to young children between the ages of six months and five years in doses a quarter of the size approved for adults.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is expected to provide advice on its use on Thursday afternoon.

“After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing COVID-19 in children between 6 months and 5 years of age,” announced the Public Health Agency of Canada on Twitter on Thursday. .

The agency said it will continue to closely monitor the safety of the vaccine and has asked Moderna to provide updated data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

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Ontario expects to receive a supply of COVID-19 vaccines for children between the ages of six months and five years by the end of next week.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says the province expects the supply of the Moderna pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to come from the federal government by then, now that the vaccine has been approved in Canada. Stephen Warner says the government is ready to distribute the injections across the province and aims to start administering doses “as soon as possible”.

Warner says the province will share more information on how and when to book appointments before the supply arrives.

In the decision posted on Health Canada’s website, the agency said results from the Phase 3 trial for the drug show that the immune response in children aged six months to five years was comparable to Moderna’s vaccine for 18-year-olds. to 25 years.

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The approval expands eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to nearly two million children in Canada, although provinces will determine where and when children will be given the vaccine.

The vaccine requires two doses, each a quarter the size of an adult dose, given about four weeks apart.

Health Canada said no safety issues were identified in the study. The most common reactions were similar to those experienced by children with other pediatric vaccines, including soreness at the site, drowsiness, and loss of appetite.

Less commonly, some children had a mild to moderate fever, swelling at the injection site, nausea, tender lymph nodes under the arm, headaches, and muscle aches.

Health Canada said there are still some uncertainties about the vaccine because it is new and long-term data are not yet available. For example, there is little data on the risk of very rare reactions such as myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart tissue, although no cases emerged in the trials.

There is also more to learn about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in young children with other health conditions or who are immunocompromised, according to the documents.

The United States approved Moderna and Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccines last month and, as of July 8, has immunized 267,000 children in that age group.

Pfizer’s pediatric COVID-19 vaccine for young children between the ages of six months and five years was shipped to Health Canada last month and is still under review.

– With Canadian Press archives

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