Adedokun Waliyu 
As the United States makes significant moves to get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to pharmacies nationwide, Canadian health officials are set to hold a COVID-19 update today, which should reveal when Canadians will get access to the latest boosters.
The U.S. approved updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna on Monday, hoping to rev up protection against the latest coronavirus strains and blunt any surge this fall and winter.
Canada is one of 12 countries currently dealing with the Omicron variant BA.2.86, which has been detected in wastewater samples in additional countries, the U.S. Centre of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. The BA.2.86 variant was first discovered a few weeks ago in British Columbia.
BA.2.86, which health experts have named “Pirola,” was first detected in late July. Early data show that BA.2.86 has 34 more mutations in its spike protein than BA.2, which drove a global COVID-19 surge in 2022.
It’s unclear whether BA.2.86 will cause a surge in infections this fall as the CDC said there is no evidence that this variant is causing more severe illness.
Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has published updated information showing that since the fall of 2022, national surveillance data has shown a surge in COVID-19 cases from late September to November 2022 and a lesser wave in December 2022 and January 2023.
NACI said beginning in the fall of 2023, for those previously vaccinated against COVID-19, they recommend a dose of the new formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals in the authorized age group if it has been at least six months from the previous vaccine dose or known infection (whichever is later).
For booster doses, NACI previously recommended that at least one booster dose be offered to all adults 18 years of age and over and adolescents 12 to 17 years of age who are at increased risk of severe illness.
Data shows vaccine protection wanes over time, and COVID-19 continually churns out new variants that can dodge prior immunity. It’s been a year since the last time the vaccines were tweaked.
The press conference will begin at 11:30 a.m. ET.
