TORONTO — The Public Health Agency of Canada states that federal funding for COVID-19 vaccines will end this year, and provinces and territories will be responsible for purchasing them and setting the timing of vaccinations. The government made the information available online on Friday, along with the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance for 2025 through the summer of 2026. NACI suggested that seniors 80 and older, inhabitants of long-term care facilities, and people and children six months and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised receive two doses of COVID-19 vaccine each year.
Home Coronavirus (COVID-19). The federal government has issued fresh instructions directing provinces to purchase COVID-19 vaccinations. TORONTO — The Public Health Agency of Canada states that federal funding for COVID-19 vaccines will end this year, and provinces and territories will be responsible for purchasing them and setting the timing of vaccinations. Nicole Ireland of The Canadian Press Approximately 13 hours ago Share by text message. ba8debd97608a70f7696162058e7ae732340dc87befd529474ce6c0d65af80d3 According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, federal funding for COVID-19 vaccines will end this year, and provinces and territories will be responsible for purchasing and scheduling vaccinations. A pharmacist handles a COVID-19 vaccine at a New York pharmacy on Tuesday, September 24, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Mary Conlon Listen tothe summer of 2026.

NACI recommended that seniors who are 80 years 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 COVID-19 vaccine per year.

It also recommended that all adults 65 years and older, health-care workers and people at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness should get one shot a year if they’ve previously been vaccinated.
Those with underlying medical issues, pregnant women, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people, and members of racialized communities are also regarded at higher risk, according to NACI. It recommended that the most recent COVID-19 vaccination be utilized in all patients. Those who have never gotten a COVID-19 vaccine can acquire their first two-dose series at any time because the disease’s causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, is present throughout the year, according to NACI. “Unlike influenza, SARS-CoV-2 has been circulating year-round, without a clear pattern of disease activity,” the advisory group stated.If significant new strains are identified in 2025, health authorities may authorize updates to the COVID-19 vaccine to match, NACI said.

The most recent mRNA vaccines, manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, target the KP.2 Omicron subvariant.

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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 10, 2025.

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