Switzerland authorises Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine

In a separate development, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) entered into a new agreement to purchase 1.25 million additional doses of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' casirivimab and imdevimab antibody cocktail for treating non-hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Bancel claimed that immunity from the coronavirus vaccine developed by Moderna, which recently received emergency use approval (EUA) in the United Kingdom and the U.S., is likely to last for at least one year.

He also says that between now and sometime between April and June, Canada will have enough doses to vaccinate up to 20 million people against the deadly coronavirus.

It also has the advantage of being a single-shot vaccine, which means it can protect more people faster, and without the cold storage requirements of the other vaccines.

Delaying the second dose slightly could give first-dose protection to millions more Canadians sooner.

Health Ministry officials said that there will be a gap of 28 days between two doses of COVID-19 vaccines and its effectiveness can be seen only after 14 days, and urged people to keep following COVID appropriate behaviour.

An Asda supermarket is to host a Covid-19 vaccination centre.

In Canada, British Columbia is looking at issuing the second doses 35 days later, Alberta is aiming for 42 days, and Quebec is delaying the second dose but hasn't provided a specific timeline.

While the province reported the fewest new daily cases in more than a week at 2,903, it is also reporting 41 new deaths and 138 new admissions to hospital.

While the federal government has sent doses of both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to distribution sites across the country, each province and territory is responsible for its own vaccine rollout.

Lawyer Vanessa Paliotti said residents had consented to be vaccinated subject to receiving two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the 21-day time frame.

"States have been advised to organise vaccination sessions taking into account 10 per cent reserve/wastage doses and an average of 100 vaccinations per session each day".

"The studies weren't set up to do that", she said.

NACI's recommendations say if the second dose is delayed those patients must be followed so more evidence of the impact can be attained.

Stoffels said the interim data, combined with monkey studies published in the summer showing strong protection against disease and transmission after a single dose, increased his confidence in the vaccine.