COVID-19: Canada extends expiry date for thousands of AstraZeneca vaccines by 1 month

As the world continues to battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario on Saturday received permission from Health Canada to extend the expiry of some doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, saving thousands of shots from potentially going to waste. A spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott said the change means doses with an original expiry of May 31 can now be used until July 1.

Canada extends expiry date of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine

"Health Canada has issued an authorization to extend the expiry date of specific lots of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from six months to seven months, following the review of submitted stability data," Alexandra Hilkene said in a statement.

This latest development comes when pharmacies and physicians' offices in the province had been rushing to administer thousands of shots this weekend ahead of their previous Monday expiry date to avoid wasting doses. Ontario had been trying to redistribute a stockpile of 45,000 shots expiring on May 31 and 10,000 more going bad in June. But quality checks held up the delivery of thousands of the shots, and many didn't reach their final destinations until Friday.

Canada authorizes Pfizer for age 12 & older

Earlier in May, the Canadian health officials said that they have become the first to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for ages as young as 12. Dr Supriya Sharma, the chief medical adviser at Health Canada, confirmed the decision for ages 12 to 15 and said it will help children return to a normal life. Canada is the first country to authorize Pfizer for that age group. The U.S. and the European Union are also reviewing it. The vaccine was previously authorized for anyone 16 or older.

Pfizer in late March released preliminary results from a vaccine study of 2,260 U.S. volunteers ages 12 to 15 showing there were no cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated adolescents compared with 18 among those given dummy shots.

(Image: AP)