Monday March 15, 2021 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
The COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by Health Canada are safe, effective and will save lives, says the BC Health website, with links to the Health Canada profiles of each product.
To date, four vaccines have been approved for use by Health Canada.
Today Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an in-person visit to an immunization clinic in Montreal to help move along the high-profile success of immunization in this country. This is one of his few trips beyond the Ottawa area in the past year of virtual meetings during the ongoing pandemic, also today meeting with Quebec premier François Legault.
Vaccination advancement:
Despite various challenges of procurement, logistics in delivery and training enough personnel to run the clinics in the provinces, when seen in context of not even having vaccines only three months ago, this progress toward getting this country out of the pandemic is remarkable.
Further, the fact that the vaccine products work so well in elderly people is considered a remarkable scientific achievement, as has been said often by Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry.
Four vaccines approved in Canada:
There are presently four vaccine products approved by Health Canada for use in Canada.
Pfizer & Moderna:
Two of the vaccines (the first two that were released to market by their manufacturers, and the first two approved in Canada), are the mRNA type. Those are the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna products which activate the body’s immune system to produce proteins that the body will use to fight the COVID virus if it arrives in the body. These are two-dose vaccines.
- Pfizer: Based on studies in about 44,000 participants, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 beginning 1 week after the second dose.
- Moderna: Based on studies in about 30,000 participants, the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was 94.1% effective in preventing COVID-19 beginning two weeks after the second dose.
AstraZeneca:
The next one approved was the AstraZeneca product. It delivers a different type of protection through a viral vector process (similar to vaccines of the pre-COVID era) where a fragment similar to the spike protein composition of the COVID virus is introduced as something that the body can prepare antibodies against. “It does its job and goes away,” as stated in the vaccine profile published by Health Canada. This is also a two-dose vaccine.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine showed an effectiveness of about 62% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning two weeks after the second dose. This effectiveness rate is based on an analysis of results from participants who had received the two-dose regimen that will be used in Canada.
Johnson & Johnson:
The Jannsen vaccine product by Johnson & Johnson is a viral vector product, requiring a single dose. After a clinical trial of 43,000 people it was found to be 66% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease beginning 2 weeks after vaccination.
===== LINKS:
Here are the Health Canada vaccine profiles as posted on the BC Health vaccine plan webpage:
- Learn about the Pfizer vaccine
- Learn about the Moderna vaccine
- Learn about the AstraZeneca vaccine
- Learn about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine