Health Canada Approves Updated Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine

Health Canada has authorized the updated COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech this week, making it the third vaccine formulation to receive approval this month. The mRNA vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech is designed to target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron. Known as Comirnaty, the new vaccine replaces the prior shot that was meant to protect against the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant, the company said in a press release. Comirnaty’s authorization follows last week’s approvals of Moderna’s updated Spikevax mRNA vaccine and Novavax’s enhanced protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid. Pfizer said the Comirnaty vaccine will be available as a single dose for adults and children aged five and older, “regardless of prior COVID-19 vaccination history.” Children under the age of five will need to receive the vaccine in three doses if they do not have a “history of completion of a COVID-19 primary vaccination course.”...