Winnipeg, City in Manitoba, Canada

Ottawa, June 2 Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has announced its updated guidance to allow mixing and matching approved Covid-19 vaccines in most scenarios.Under the updated guidance, people who received a first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine may receive Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for their second dose, unless contraindicated. Four vaccines, developed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, have been authorized for use in Canada to date, Xinhua reported.The new guidance also advises that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines can be mixed for first and second doses.But it is not recommending AstraZeneca after a first shot of Pfizer or Moderna because of safety concerns and limited data on the use of this combination."NACI has worked to quickly adapt this guidance on the use of COVID-19 vaccines in Canada to ensure optimal protection of Canad at pace with the ever-changing circumstances during this pandemic," Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said at a press conference on Tuesday.While NACI is advising that the vaccines can be safely used in combination, Tam said Canad should try to get the same dose in a series if possible, specifically when receiving Pfizer or Moderna."NACI is not recommending just use them interchangeably, but mostly try and use the same vaccine for the second dose," Tam said. "If you can't find it, or you don't know what someone had, whether it's Pfizer or Moderna for the first dose, another vaccine can be considered."The updated NACI guidance is based on emerging research from Spain and the UK that found mixing and matching AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines was both safe and effective at preventing COVID-19."This is not a new concept, so having a multi-dose series in terms of vaccines given by manufacturers is something that public health have used over time for many other vaccines," Tam said. "When vaccines programs and supplies change this is not an unusual thing to do."More than 13 million people have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine in Canada, in contrast to over 3.5 million of the Moderna vaccine and more than 2.1 million of the AstraZeneca vaccine as of May 22, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

WinnipegFOLLOW

Winnipeg, Latest News

Toronto, June 7 Mental health visits for new mothers were 30 per cent higher during the Covid-19 pandemic ... ...

Pope Francis on Sunday expressed sorrow over the findings of the remains of more than 200 indigenous children at a former indigenous boarding school in western Canada, which is run by the Church. ...

Ottawa, June 6 Canada reported 1,672 new cases of COVID-19 in the past day, bringing the cumulative total ... ...

The Group of Seven (G7) agreed on Friday to speed up cooperation on vaccine and therapeutic trials to tackle COVID-19 and future pandemics, the UK government has announced after hosting a two-day meeting of the bloc's health ministers at the Universi ...

Toronto, June 3 A 64-year-old Punjabi man has been arrested for the alleged murder of his wife in ... ...

Hyderabad, June 3 Biopharmaceutical company Ocugen Inc will have exclusive co-development, manufacturing, and commercialisation rights to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin ... ...

Amid global pressure for a fresh probe on COVID-19 origins, Canada's parliament on Thursday ordered the Public Health Agency (PHAC) to turn over unredacted documents related to collaboration with China on other deadly pathogens and the firing of two ...

Ottawa, June 2 Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has announced its updated guidance to allow mixing ... ...