[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I know you just said that to be a dick(success!), but because our governments have abandoned even the platitudes of "protecting the vulnerable" we now have to take matters into our own hands. If we can do what we can to stay out of the hospital, which is what is also best thing for Canada, since apparently a $13 billion surplus isn't enough to do one ####ing thing to shore up our system, I hope you can understand our desire to avoid ending up there. Seeking out the best protection possible makes a lot of sense.

The Government and Health Canada are providing us with the tools necessary to protect ourselves though. You don't need to resort to vaccine tourism to stay safe.

After a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, Health Canada has determined that the bivalent Moderna Spikevax booster is safe and effective. Clinical trial results showed that a booster dose of the bivalent Moderna Spikevax vaccine triggers a strong immune response against both Omicron (BA.1) and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus strain. It was also found to generate a good immune response against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, and is expected to extend the durability of protection.

Vaccination continues to be one of the most effective ways to protect families, communities and ourselves against COVID-19. Evidence indicates that the vaccines used in Canada are very effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19. Keeping COVID-19 vaccinations up-to-date, including getting booster doses as recommended, will help protect an individual against serious illness and other complications of COVID-19 infection.

Health Canada has placed terms and conditions on the authorization requiring Moderna to continue providing information to Health Canada on the safety and efficacy of the bivalent vaccine. This will provide the Department with more data from ongoing studies and real-world use to ensure that the benefits of the vaccine continue to outweigh any risks, as well as to detect any potential new safety signals.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...and-older.html

“It’s essentially two vaccines in one,” Health Canada’s chief medical adviser, Supriya Sharma, said at a technical briefing Thursday. “While the vaccine was designed to more specifically target the Omicron BA.1 subvariant, we know that this vaccine also generates a good immune response against the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 that have more recently emerged.”

NACI recommends that anyone 18 years or older who is eligible for a booster receive a bivalent version. The committee said in a statement on Thursday that children aged 12 to 17 who are moderately to severely immunocompromised or otherwise at “high risk of severe outcomes” from COVID-19 can be offered a bivalent vaccine “off-label.”

Dr. Sharma said the vaccine authorized on Thursday has been studied in humans and was found to be “almost identical” to the original Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in terms of safety.

Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Toronto, emphasized that while BA.1 and BA.5 are different sublineages of Omicron, they’re both still Omicron. He said the BA.1-tailored vaccine is “a lot closer” to the strains of the virus that are currently circulating than vaccines designed for the original strain of COVID-19.

The newly approved vaccine, he added, is “going to be an important vaccine as we move through the fall, and as we will see an expected rise in COVID cases at some point in the fall and in the winter.”

Dr. Bogoch noted that a recent study from Portugal showed that people who had BA.1 or BA.2 infections had meaningful protection against BA.5 – though he added that vaccine immunity and immunity from infections are not identical.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...-that-targets/