Canada's Department of Health on Thursday authorized the use of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine for children aged six months to 5 years, a first in the country for this age group.
About 1.7 million children, among the 38 million inhabitants of Canada, are now eligible for vaccination against Covid.
Read alsoCovid-19: “Current measures cannot curb the different waves”
"
After a rigorous and independent scientific review of the evidence, Health Canada has determined that the benefits of this vaccine for children 6 months to 5 years of age outweigh the risks
," the ministry said in a statement.
“
Health Canada has authorized a primary series of 2 doses of 25 micrograms each, with the second dose to be given 4 weeks after the first.
This is equivalent to half the authorized dose for children aged 6 to 11 and a quarter of the authorized dose for people over 12 years old
,” he added.
Its effectiveness was “
comparable
” to that observed for people aged 18 to 25 during the clinical trial.
The American company was pleased to be able to offer this possibility of vaccination “
to protect these very young children, a group at high risk of infection
” and who cannot always wear the mask.
Read alsoCovid-19: have we reached the epidemic peak of the 7th wave?
Authorization in Canada of the vaccine, called Spikevax, for this age group falls about a year and a half after that of adults, in December 2020. The United States launched its vaccination campaign for children under five in June.
In addition, the Canadian government announced the resumption of random testing, effective July 19, for vaccinated air travelers arriving at Canada's four major airports (Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary).
Testing will now take place outside airports, in stores and pharmacies or during a virtual self-testing appointment.
"
We must maintain the measures related to border screening since this is how we follow the importation of the virus responsible for COVID-19 and the worrying variants
", indicated the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, to about this measure which had been suspended on June 11.
In the event of a positive result, the traveler must self-isolate for a period of 10 days from the result.