Risk to the general public of acquiring the virus remains low, public health agency says.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said Wednesday it’s purchased 500,000 doses of a human vaccine to protect against avian influenza for those most at risk from being exposed to the virus by infected animals.
The agency said it secured the initial supply of GSK’s Arepanrix H5N1 A/America vaccine by leveraging an existing agreement.
While the current risk to the public remains low, individuals with higher-level exposure to infected animals are at increased risk and should take appropriate precautions,
the
agency said (new window) in a statement.
Canada reported its first domestically acquired human case of avian influenza, known formally as A(H5N1), on Nov. 9, 2024, when a teen patient in B.C. was placed on life support. The teen needed (new window) significant respiratory support, doctors say, then began to improve and was discharged from hospital on Jan. 7.
To date, Canadian health officials say there has been no evidence of sustained person-to-person spread of the virus in any cases found in the world.
Canadian farmers on alert as 2nd bird flu strain found in U.S. cattle
Canadian dairy farmers are ramping up surveillance after a second strain of avian flu was found in cattle in the United States, where the virus has prompted a reduction in milk production. No cases have been reported in Canadian cows so far.
The agency said 60 per cent of available vaccine doses will go to provinces and territories, while the rest will be stockpiled for national preparedness.
It falls to provinces and territories to decide whether to deploy vaccines.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization, Canada’s advisory group on vaccines, has also released preliminary guidance (new window) on using the vaccine in a non-pandemic context.
Health officials are watching the pandemic potential of H5N1, as well as other influenza viruses, since when a virus gains the ability to spread easily between humans, it can spark a global pandemic.
Since April, H5 bird flu (new window) has infected nearly 70 people in the United States, with one death. Most of those infections have been among farm workers exposed to infected poultry or cows.
Variants of bird flu, or avian influenza, have also killed hundreds of millions of birds around the globe and are now spreading in non-human mammals.
Other countries stockpiling vaccine
European authorities have said genetic mutations, or the mixing of genetic material between viruses, as well as human activities such as urbanization, amplify the risk of virus transmission from animals to humans.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would rebuild a stockpile of bird flu vaccines for poultry that matches the strain of the virus circulating in commercial flocks and wild birds.
The U.S. had built a poultry vaccine stockpile after major bird flu outbreaks in 2014 and 2015, though they were never used.
Other vaccine manufacturers are also developing bird flu vaccines for humans.
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