Canada’s review of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of 5 to 11 should be completed within the next “one to two weeks,” Health Canada’s chief medical adviser says.
“As with all of the COVID-19 submissions, we’re doing it on a priority basis and we have a dedicated team that’s looking at that data and that data is not just the clinical data, but as well the formulation,” Dr. Supriya Sharma told a press conference in Ottawa today. “And we look at that in the Canadian context for the … possible use in children.”
Three weeks ago, Pfizer-BioNTech became the first company to seek Health Canada’s approval for a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine. Other companies, including Moderna, are working on children’s formulations.
While children aged 12 and older are already approved for the adult formation, the pediatric formulation would be given in two smaller doses — 10 mcg (micrograms), instead of the 30 mcg used for those over the age of 12.
Sharma said last month that while the children’s version of the vaccine is “slightly different” from the adult one, it contains the same mRNA and works the same way.
The chief medical adviser also said that while Health Canada has a “completed submission” for a vaccine from Novavax, reviews of that product will continue.
More to come…