【Canada LOHAS Network lahoo.ca Jiang Lihe Review】In order to combat the new crown epidemic that has been prolonged since the fever, the world's major countries have been developing drugs and vaccines non-stop. A variety of COVID-19 vaccines manufactured in Western countries have also been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and widely used. However, Covifenz, the first COVID-19 vaccine made in Canada, is likely to become the first vaccine in North America to be rejected by the WHO.
Image: Fortune
According to the World Health Organization's guidance documents, a request by Canadian biopharmaceutical company Medicago to prequalify its Covifenz vaccine was not accepted. What does this mean? It is unlikely that the WHO will approve the Covifenz vaccine for emergency use, let alone access the Global Vaccine Sharing System (Covax).
Image from: WHO
On Wednesday, March 16, MARIANGELA Simao, WHO Assistant Director-General for Vaccines and Access to Medicines, said the Canadian biocompany is linked to cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris, "WHO and the United Nations have very strict policies on engagement with the tobacco and arms industries, so vaccines are likely not to be on the emergency use list."
Assistant Director General Mariangela Simao (Credit: Twitter)
Covifenz is billed as "the world's first plant-based COVID-19 vaccine" – made by extracting proteins from plants. Previously, the Canadian government spent as much as $173 million on the vaccine; at present, no country except Canada has approved it for use.
Photo credit: Medicago
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international drug convention for tobacco associations, which entered into force in 2005, emphasizes the need for public health policies to avoid being affected by the tobacco business and its benefits.
Canada's home-made COVID-19 vaccine, Covidnz, may be in violation of this convention.
However, Health Canada Minister Jean-Yves Duclo said in an email response that the Canadian side has carefully studied the government's investment in Medicago and believes that everything is in line with the WHO FCTC and related obligations; "in accordance with Health Canada's openness and transparency requirements, it is consistent with the guidelines of the WHO FCTC"
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclo said the government would closely monitor the process with WHO. Canada has signed a contract to purchase at least 20 million doses of Covifenz, plus an additional 56 million doses of "optional quantities". (Credit: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Previously, Medicago CEO Takashi Nagao had said that a contract between Medicago and the Canadian government had set a supply of up to 76 million doses of vaccine.
In other words, if stuck in the WHO, the 76 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covifenz are not accepted by countries outside Of Canada, and it is possible that they can only be digested by Canadians themselves.
图自：Government of Canada
The Covifenz vaccine, produced by Quebec biopharmaceutical company Medicago, was approved for use by Health Canada in February and fully launched in Canada in early March. To this day, the National Immunization Advisory Board of Canada (NACI) still encourages people who cannot receive the mRNA vaccine to choose To use Covifenz.
The Modena children's vaccine is launched
In terms of childhood vaccines, on March 17, Health Canada officially approved Moderna Spikevax for use in children aged 6 to 11 years. Modena has been used by children of the same age in australia and many European countries.
Imaged from: CBC
According to Modena, two doses of the Modena vaccine in children aged 6 to 11 are able to produce virus-neutralizing antibodies, and their safety has been validated in clinical trials.
图自：Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal/AP
Health Canada's approved dosing regimen is two injections – 100 micrograms per shot for ages 12 and older, and 50 micrograms for ages 6 to 11 , with a month apart.
Hospital doctors strongly recommend that students wear masks
As Canada's major provinces began to "remove the mask" and lifted a large number of epidemic prevention restrictions, Scotia is no exception, but the matter of not wearing a mask has been criticized, and a group of doctors at Halifax Children's Hospital strongly recommend that students wear masks when they go to school.
Image: CTV News
Nova Scotia has just announced that it will be eliminating all COVID-19-related regulations, including mandatory masks in public schools across the province.
The local Pediatric Epidemiology Advisory Group immediately issued an open letter. On Thursday, March 17, the group publicly stated that "we need students and staff to stay healthy and able to continue to attend classes, masks and vaccines have been key factors in the response to the outbreak."
And list the top five benefits of continuing to wear a mask in school:
Comfortably add an extra layer of protection;
protect parents and essential staff of children, including health workers;
buy more time for universal access to childhood vaccines;
The impact of the suspension of mask wearing in other provinces on schools can be seen;
The current impact of the new variant, Omicron, can be assessed.
And four reasons why students should continue to wear masks:
Evidence suggests that proper wearing of a 3-layer mask reduces the risk of COVID-19 spreading in school settings and helps reduce the likelihood of sick leave;
Students habitually wear masks – there is no clear evidence that this causes harm; hospitalizations remain high and hospitals are generally overloaded;
Many health care workers are still on leave due to infection;
Vaccination rates for children aged 5-11 years are less than 80%.
For local parents, although they are free to choose whether to wear a mask or not, it is still necessary to stay at home and pay attention to personal hygiene when sick. After all, while the authorities are lifting restrictions, they are also advising family members to prepare for the virus.