A new vaccine targeting two strains of COVID-19 will be available this fall.

Dr. Supriya Sharma from Health Canada explains what strains the new vaccine will be effective.

“This vaccine is known as a bivalent vaccine because it targets two coronavirus strains,” Dr. Sharma explains. “The original SARS-CoV-2 from 2019 and the Omicron BA.1 variant.”

Dr. Sharma adds the new vaccine is also effective against sub-variants of Omicron.

“While the vaccine was more specifically target the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, we know this vaccine also generates a good immune response against the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which have more recently emerged,” says Dr. Sharma.
Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, says they have ordered 12 million doses of the Moderna bivalent vaccine. They will be shipped out to the provinces next week.

He adds the new vaccine can be used as a booster dose.

Health Canada says it’s also working with Pfizer-BioNTech on its bi-valent vaccine.