Provinces Told to Dispose of COVID-19 Vaccine Stock Ahead of New Shots

Provinces Told to Dispose of COVID-19 Vaccine Stock Ahead of New Shots
A healthcare worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine in a file photograph. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
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Health Canada has instructed the provinces to destroy existing inventories of last year’s COVID-19 vaccines while it works to approve updated shots, provincial officials say.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) issued a directive at a July 25 meeting of the Canadian Immunization Committee instructing all provinces to pull XBB COVID-19 vaccines for public use, according to a spokesperson for Alberta’s minister of health. The XBB shots targeted the Omicron variant.