(Ottawa, Ontario – December 21, 2020) – The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) assures athletes that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 (SARS-Cov-2) vaccines that will be administered in Canada do not contain ingredients that are on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Prohibited List.
Canadian athletes should feel confident that they remain onside anti-doping rules when they receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (DIN 02509210). Information regarding the Moderna vaccine will be available once it is approved by Health Canada.
These vaccines will be searchable shortly in Global DRO, with the sport status of Not Prohibited. Future vaccines will be added to Global DRO during their clinical trial period, prior to Health Canada approval, to ensure that fear of a sport prohibition does not contribute to vaccine hesitancy.
Athletes should verify all medications in Global DRO. The online database provides easily accessible and up-to-date information about medications, including at least 35 vaccines, none of which are prohibited. Global DRO includes medication information from seven countries, including Canada, UK, USA, Switzerland, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, so athletes who receive vaccinations in these countries can verify other COVID-19 vaccines.
WADA has stated that it will continue to monitor vaccine information as it becomes available, and will notify the anti-doping community if a future vaccine ingredient is problematic.