Health Canada Approves Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine

Health Canada has approved Medicago’s Covifenz COVID-19 two-dose vaccine, the first authorized vaccine that uses plant-based proteins.

The vaccine, which is authorized for people aged 18 to 64 years old, was found to be 71 percent effective against symptomatic infection and 100 percent effective against severe disease in clinical trials. Each 3.75-mg dose is meant to be administered 21 days apart.

Health Canada noted that there was limited enrollment of people 65 and older in the Covifenz study since most of this age group was already vaccinated. Medicago is currently collecting data on older adults to support authorization for this age bracket.

In addition, the company must provide confirmatory safety and efficacy data on current and emerging variants. The preliminary data suggested Covifenz induced neutralizing antibodies against Omicron.