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Canada has just approved an updated COVID-19 vaccine to target the first highly contagious Omicron variant, with doses expected to start rolling out within days. But what exactly can we expect from these new shots when they land in the real world?
The updated Moderna vaccine is a combination of two strains, also known as a “bivalent” vaccine, that targets both the original virus and the Omicron variant BA.1 that emerged late last year and drove the largest wave of infection and hospitalization in the pandemic.
While the new shot doesn’t directly target dominant Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which the U.S. approved an updated shot for this week, Pfizer submitted an application for Health Canada approval for its BA.4-5 vaccine Friday and Moderna is expected to soon.
“The evidence we have to date shows that the bivalent vaccine with BA.1 offers good protection against BA.4 and BA.5,” Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo said during a technical briefing Thursday.
“Certainly as the situation evolves we’ll have to look at the evidence and see what happens with real-world effectiveness.”
But what an updated booster can do for you depends on how vulnerable your immune system is, whether you’re one of the millions of Canadians who’ve recently been infected with COVID and when you last had a vaccine.
WATCH | Health Canada approves updated vaccine targeting Omicron variant:
Vaccine for Omicron variant approved by Health Canada
2 days ago
Duration 2:52
Health Canada has approved a new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, which targets the Omicron variant. It’s the first vaccine of its type in Canada, but officials say another batch of booster shots, specifically targeting Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, could arrive later this fall.
Will updated vaccines stop COVID spread?
Infectious diseases experts, virologists, epidemiologists and immunologists are hopeful updated vaccines will be more effective at preventing transmission than the original shots — at least initially — but also caution Canadians not to expect them to be a silver bullet.
With limited data on the impact these vaccines will have, all eyes will be on the effect they have on slowing rates of infection and transmission and whether they better protect vulnerable groups in the population heading into the fall and winter months.
“We do not know what the impact is because that is not available,” Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said during a news conference Thursday when asked by CBC News how effective the updated vaccines will be at stopping the spread of the virus.
Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam said she is hopeful that the new bivalent vaccine boosts protection against infection and transmission, at least through the fall. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Tam said she is hopeful that the new bivalent BA.1-targeted vaccine from Moderna boosts protection against infection and transmission — at least through the fall.
Clinical trial data on the BA.1-targeted vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech suggests they provide slightly stronger immune protection against Omicron than the original vaccines, but exactly what that translates to in the real world remains to be seen.
“The immune responses to these variant-tuned boosters are modestly encouraging, but we are still waiting for definitive clinical evidence,” said Dr. David Naylor, who co-chairs the federal government’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.
“That said, even if their marginal advantages are small, they could have a meaningfully positive impact if their novelty rekindles public interest in getting boosted.”
A new preprint modelling study, that has not been peer reviewed, suggested that updated vaccines may not be much more effective than existing boosters in a population with hybrid immunity from vaccination and infection — especially when it comes to protection against severe illness.
But that could still lead to significant protection at a population level, with the preprint also suggesting that for every 1,000 people vaccinated with an updated booster, an average of eight fewer people would be hospitalized compared with the original vaccines.
“We don’t know yet the magnitude of this improvement, but it will likely be pretty limited,” said Dr. Gaston De Serres, an epidemiologist at the Quebec National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ).
“Especially against severe outcomes like hospitalization for which, up until now, the original [vaccines] have been quite successful.”
What can updated COVID vaccines do for you?
More than half of Canadians have been infected with COVID since the emergence of Omicron and its highly contagious subvariants, and the added protection from prior infection in a vaccinated population appears to be providing an edge.
A new research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at the risk of BA.5 infection among people in Portugal who had a prior infection with past variants, including BA.1 and BA.2, and found they had strong protection against the newer variant.
That’s in part because Portugal has such high levels of vaccination, with more than 98 per cent of the population studied having at least two doses, meaning that much like in Canada our high levels of two-dose vaccination and infection provide strong immune protection.
Two Canadian preprint studies from May and June, which have not been peer reviewed, also found prior Omicron infections provided robust immunity against future reinfection and hospitalization — especially when combined with vaccination.
“In general, we can anticipate that those who have hybrid immunity are going to be better protected,” said Dr. Danuta Skowronski, a vaccine effectiveness expert and epidemiology lead at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and co-author of the preprints.
“And it is also true that vaccine strains that are a better match to the circulating variant will likely provide better protection.”
The longer you wait after your last infection or vaccination is also important to consider, with emerging evidence suggesting getting a booster too closely after being infected or vaccinated can impact how effective the shot is.
A new small preprint study, which has not been peer reviewed, found that getting a booster within two months of an infection could negatively impact B cells that help generate immune protection against severe disease.
“Timing is everything and in general the recommendations are to wait a few months following infection before receiving a booster dose,” Skowronski said.
She added that people shouldn’t immediately rush out to get a booster after infection because it could actually interfere with the immune response.
“As we start to head into the fall and we start to see almost certainly cases rise again, the updated booster is definitely going to be better than not getting a booster at all,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunobiology professor at the University of Arizona.
“Given that BA.5 is still circulating, I don’t see that there’s really any downside at all to picking up these boosters and they’ll probably work better than just another shot of the original.”
Less than half of Canadians have received a booster even though it provides significant added protection against severe COVID-19. Only about 12 per cent have received a fourth dose. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)
Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, said it’s important to consider that even though the original vaccines were far from an exact match to Omicron — they still provided strong protection against severe illness.
“But the closer matches now should do more,” he said in an email. “Notably, there may well be a period following the shot when people are immune to infection.”
Bhattacharya said the “big question” that is top of mind right now is how effective the updated vaccines will be at stopping transmission in the real world — and for how long.
“Do we start to restore some of the protection against any infection or symptomatic infection with these boosters? I expect we will,” he said. “Exactly how long that effect will last, I think, is to be determined.”
Dr. Allison McGeer, a medical microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said the updated shots may provide a slight boost in neutralizing antibodies that can prevent transmission — and that added protection is “not nothing.”
“An extra dose of the original vaccine results in substantial increased protection against BA.4 and BA.5. It’s not perfect, but I think we’re finding out nothing is perfect,” she said. “The bivalent vaccines, they may be a little better, but they’re not going to be a miracle.”
Bhattacharya said that while clinical trials showed there is only about a twofold increase in protective antibodies against the BA.1, BA.4 and BA.5 variants targeted by Moderna and Pfiizer in their bivalent vaccines — it’s still significant protection.
“If you look at the data, it’s a ton more antibodies that are being made,” he said. “So I have every reason to expect that they will help — and probably help a lot.”
MILAN (AP) — Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years on Saturday.
Bologna came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw to gather three points from its opening four matches.
Bologna hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.
AC Milan is also winless as it prepares for a Tuesday Champions League match against Liverpool. The Rossoneri hosted promoted Venezia later. Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.
Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.
Bologna thought it was gifted a way back into the match on the stroke of halftime when referee Marco Piccinini signalled for a penalty following an Alberto Moreno handball, but he revoked his decision and instead gave a free kick because the handball was just outside the area.
Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.
Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.
Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.
Unbeaten sides
Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.
Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus’ perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.
On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.
Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.
The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi’s close-range effort.
Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
