variations of vaccines

It also issued a “discretionary recommendation” that children six months to five years of age who haven’t yet been vaccinated get the two-dose primary series of an mRNA vaccine.

The existing bivalent Omicron-containing mRNA vaccines can be used for people receiving their first two-dose vaccination series, NACI said.

Immunization this fall is “particularly important for those at increased risk of Covid-19 infection or severe disease,” NACI’s statement said.

Those vulnerable groups include people aged 65 and older, residents of long-term care homes or other group living settings, people with underlying medical conditions, people who are pregnant, people from First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities, people who are racialized and people who provide essential community services, it said.

The mRNA vaccines available in Canada are manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

Although mRNA Covid-19 vaccines are “preferred,” NACI said Novavax’s Nuvaxovid should be offered as a booster to adults 18 years of age and older who are “unwilling or unable to receive an mRNA vaccine.”

—By Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press