Canada Declines Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine Due to Low Demand

The Public Health Agency of Canada cites minimal uptake and efforts to prevent vaccine wastage for its decision.

The Public Health Agency of Canada will not order Novavax's updated protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, this respiratory virus season.
The agency points to a low demand for Novavax’s vaccine in previous years, with only 4% of doses administered in 2023.
Novavax requires a minimum order that far exceeds last year's usage, prompting the decision to avoid potential wastage.
Canada will continue to distribute mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, which have been reformulated to target the KP.2 subvariant of Omicron.
Several provinces, including Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, have confirmed they are not placing orders for Nuvaxovid.