Health Canada has approved a second COVID-19 vaccine, this one manufactured by Moderna.
The authorization was announced Wednesday, after an independent review of the evidence supporting the vaccine which has been underway since October 12, 2020. The vaccine meets all safety, efficacy and quality requirements set out by Health Canada. More information about the review can be found here.
"This is phenomenal news for Ontarians and Canadians - yet another life-saving COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for safe and effective use in the province and in the country," Premier Doug Ford said in a statement released after Health Canada's announcement. "We are taking another step towards ending this terrible pandemic."
Canada will receive up to 168,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine before the end of December, with more arriving in the new year. The federal government has allocated approximately 53,000 of those doses to Ontario. These are the first of 40 million doses Canada will be receiving through its agreement with Moderna.
This vaccine will be distributed to more remote places in the country as it does not have as stringent delivery requirements as the Pfizer Bio-Tech vaccine. It can also be administered onsite at long-term care homes at which many residents are unable to travel.
This vaccine has been approved for people over the age of 18. Like the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine requires two doses.
The vaccine will be administered to frontline health care workers and residents in long-term care homes and retirement homes, as well as adults in Indigenous populations.