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

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.