'Critical step': Canada approves Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for mass use

The Canadian government on December 23 authorised a second COVID-19 vaccine in the country as it granted approval to Moderna. Earlier, Canada had approved Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine. The Canadian Health Department on Wednesday announced that it has authorised Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine after reviewing its data thoroughly. Moderna had submitted the trial data to the Canadian government on October 12, 2020. 

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"Today’s authorization is a critical step in ensuring additional COVID-19 vaccines are available to all Canadians in all parts of the country. The different storage and handling requirements of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine mean that it can be distributed to isolated and remote communities, including the territories," Health Canada said in a statement. 

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The Canadian government has determined that Moderna's vaccine is safe and effective for deployment and it meets all the quality requirements. However, Health Canada added that the Public Health Agency will closely monitor the safety of the vaccine once it is on the market for mass use and will not hesitate to take action if any safety concerns are identified.

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The vaccine is meant for use in people aged 18 years or older. According to Health Canada, Moderna is currently conducting a study to analyse if the vaccine can be administered to children aged 12 years and older, adding that the government could update the guidelines if the data from these studies support it.

Ease in handling Moderna vaccine 

Canada's health regulators had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 9 and the vaccination campaign in the country started on December 14. The country is currently vaccinating high-risk groups including frontline essential workers. The approval of the Moderna vaccine would give the government ability to conduct vaccination drives in faraway places because of ease in storage and handling of the drug. The Moderna vaccine can be stored in -20 degrees Celcius temperature as opposed to Pfizer's much colder -70 degrees Celcius. 

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