Health Canada has approved the first made-in-Canada COVID-19 vaccine and the world’s first plant-based vaccine for human use.

Covifenz was developed by Quebec-based biotech company Medicago, along with British-American pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, and is permitted for use in adults aged 18 to 64.

Health Canada is recommending two doses of the vaccine be administered 21 days apart.

In clinical trials the vaccine was shown to be 71 per cent effective in protecting individuals against severe effects of COVID-19 while the company said the efficacy rate against the Delta variant increased to just over 75 per cent.

The Omicron variant was not circulating during the study which began back in March 2021.

The drugmaker says there were no serious adverse reactions reported in the vaccine group during the trial. Health Canada reports temporary side effects such as soreness, chills, mild fever and joint aches are possible for a few hours to a few days after receiving a dose.

Medicago says its vaccine does not contain any live viruses, egg proteins, preservatives, or human-derived materials. Instead, it used recombinant technology, involving the genetic sequence of a virus, with living plants as the host. The resulting virus-like particles mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response. 

This is the sixth vaccine approved to treat COVID-19 in Canada, joining Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Novavax.

Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report