Publication date: September 13, 2022 • 26 minutes ago • 3 minutes reading • Join the discussion FILE PHOTO: Nurse Rachelle Lively administered COVID-19 shots as part of the City of Calgary’s expansion of the mobile vaccination program, a short-term vaccination for the COVID-19 station launched at Southcentre Mall on Monday, January 3, 2022. Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia

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Alberta is finalizing plans to roll out new bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccines targeting multiple strains of the coronavirus.

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The province says it is reviewing Health Canada’s approval of Moderna’s updated vaccine in early September. Sign up to receive daily news headlines from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. By clicking the subscribe button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300

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But a vaccine advocacy group in Alberta is questioning why the province has yet to release details of its plans for the new vaccine when provinces such as Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan have begun reservations. “The question is, what is the advantage of waiting?” said Sarah Mackey with Vaccine Hunters Alberta. “What do they expect to review that they don’t expect the Health Canada review process and the (National Advisory Committee on Immunization) review process to catch?” In a statement to Postmedia, Alberta Health said the availability of the bivalent vaccine will be subject to the federal government’s allocation of supplies from the province. Public Health Canada data on vaccine distribution says Alberta had received 32,300 doses of the bivalent vaccines as of Sept. 8.

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Moderna’s bivalent booster vaccine is the first to be approved in Canada. It targets the previously widespread strain of the virus and the Omicron BA.1 variant, which devastated Alberta’s health care system during a wave of infections last winter. A Pfizer bivalent vaccine targeting the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are prevalent in Alberta, is available in the United States, with an application also being submitted to Health Canada. Having more targeted vaccines should create a better immune response and more protection from Omicron infection, said Calgary public health physician Dr. Jia Hu.

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He said there is no real data from clinical trials on the vaccines, but the immunological data show that the new vaccines generate higher antibody responses than previous offerings. “We don’t think it’s going to be magic bullets in terms of how well the original vaccine worked against the original COVID, but it certainly seems to give your immune response a boost,” Hu said. It’s not unreasonable for Albertans who qualify for a booster shot to wait until the bivalent shot is available, Hu said. “I think this is one of the few times that it might actually make sense to wait,” he said. He added that having some backup protection in place will be important for all Albertans to protect themselves and those around them as fall approaches.

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“It was a nice summer, people were able to live more normally, and that’s good. But I think we want to take all the precautions we can to keep everyone safe.” Dr Jia Hu poses for a photo at Prince’s Island Park. Saturday, June 26, 2021. Brendan Miller/Postmedia Mackey said she counts this latest bivalent vaccine as the 10th COVID-19 vaccine in Alberta when other brands and doses are included. He argued that the process should be routine by now. He said he has spoken with many Albertans who are waiting for the new vaccine to become available to get a boost, forgoing protection as they wait for the province to release the vaccine. “They’ve been late to the party every time. There is a complete lack of communication every time,” he said. “It’s just inexcusable that time and time and time again we’re behind the 8-ball.” As of September 5, the latest date for which data is available, 82.6 per cent of eligible Albertans had received at least two shots with a COVID-19 vaccine and 41.8 per cent had received at least one booster shot. [email protected] Twitter: @jasonfherring

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