Ottawa’s new coronavirus vaccine rules say provinces are responsible for procurement

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TORONTO — Federal funding for COVID-19 vaccines will stop this year, and provinces and territories will be responsible for purchasing them, as well as timing vaccinations, the Public Health Agency of Canada says.

The agency posted the information online Friday, along with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s COVID-19 vaccine guidelines for 2025 through summer 2026.

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NACI recommended that seniors 80 and older, residents of long-term care homes, and adults and children six months and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised should get two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine annually.

It also recommended that all adults aged 65 and older, health care workers and people at high risk of severe COVID-19 disease get one dose per year if they have been previously vaccinated.

People considered to be at higher risk include those with underlying medical conditions; Pregnant women. People from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities; NACI and members of racist communities said.

She added that in all cases, the latest Covid-19 vaccine must be used.

Those who have never received a COVID-19 vaccine can get the first of a two-dose series at any time because the virus that causes the disease — SARS-CoV-2 — is present year-round, NACI said.

“Unlike influenza, SARS-CoV-2 circulates throughout the year, with no clear pattern in disease activity,” the advisory committee said. “However, since 2022, COVID-19 activity has been consistently higher from late summer to early January, coinciding with the fall and winter respiratory season.”

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If significant new variants are identified in 2025, health authorities may allow the COVID-19 vaccine to be updated to match them, NACI said.

The latest mRNA vaccines, made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, target the KP.2 Omicron subvariant.

Novavax’s updated protein-based vaccine targets Omicron’s JN.1 variant, but the federal government has not purchased any doses, saying the minimum order required was far higher than Canadian uptake of the Novavax vaccine the previous year.

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