VaccineHistoricalNameCode

What's new in this release?

Serogroups W and W-135 

As per the AntigenCode subset recent update, the serogroup W135 is now an acceptable synonym for serogroup W. Please refer to the AntigenCode page for the details. 

Current – Serogroup W-135: 

• FSN: Vaccine product containing only meningococcal groups A + C + Y + W-135 conjugate antigens (medicinal product) 
• English PT: Men-C-ACYW-135 meningococcal conjugate A + C + Y + W-135 unspecified 
• Acceptable English Syn: Meningococcal groups A + C + Y + W-135 conjugate vaccine 

Applying the change – Serogroup W: 

• FSN: Vaccine product containing only meningococcal groups A + C + Y + W conjugate antigens (medicinal product) 
• English PT: Men-C-ACYW meningococcal conjugate A + C + Y + W unspecified 
• Acceptable English Syn: Men-C-ACYW-135 meningococcal conjugate A + C + Y + W-135 unspecified 
• Acceptable English Syn: Meningococcal groups A + C + Y + W conjugate vaccine 

Note that as per the editorial guidelines, when a FSN or PT changes, the initial description is kept for facilitating data searching and retrieving. 

Known Issues 

The vaccine products containing only Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A, C, W135 or W-135 and Y antigens (medicinal product) will require an update, as the Serogroup W and W-135 can now be considered equivalent. 

Update to the varicella and herpes zoster vaccines 

Varicella disorder and herpes zoster disorder are caused by the same organism: human alphaherpesvirus 3 (“varicella-zoster virus” is the historical name of this organism). The base antigen substance for both vaccine groups is the same: Antigen of human alphaherpesvirus 3. 

As varicella and herpes zoster vaccines concepts cannot be differentiated by the active ingredient, the specific target disease must be stated in the FSN.  

Define naming convention for the target disorder pattern in the FSN 

<Vaccine for X disorder prevention> was applied in 2020 (CA vaccines remodeling project) 

Examples: 

FSN: Vaccine product containing only Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen for varicella prevention (medicinal product)| 

FSN: Vaccine product containing only Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product)| 

<Vaccine against X ORGANISM> was applied in 2021 (Int Edition) to resolve COVID-19 vaccine 

Example: 

FSN: Vaccine product against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (medicinal product)| 

Order of patterns: 

Vaccine product containing <active ingredient pattern> <target disease pattern> 

Examples: 

FSN: Vaccine product containing Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product) 

FSN: Vaccine product containing Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen against herpes zoster (medicinal product) 

Define the level of granularity for the recombinant vaccine (new parent for Shingrix) 

Pattern: 

FSN: Vaccine product containing only Human alphaherpesvirus 3 recombinant surface glycoprotein E antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product) 

This allows aligning with the already existing: Antigen of Human alphaherpesvirus 3 recombinant surface glycoprotein E (substance) concept. 

Define CA PT for herpes zoster vaccines 

For the existing concept with the Zos vaccine abbreviation, a change is proposed to specify this is a herpes zoster vaccine as follow:  

FSN: Vaccine product containing only Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product) 

New English PT:  Zos hespes zoster unspecified 

Additional English Syn:  Zos zoster unspecified* 

Additional English Syn: HZ herpes zoster unspecified ** 

* This description will be kept for historical and data search options. 

** The HZ abbreviation has also been added for reference, since it is on the CIG page, although HZ is not listed in the VVWG. 

A new vaccine has been created to distinguish the live attenuated herpes zoster vaccine 

FSN: Vaccine product containing only live attenuated Human alphaherpesvirus 3 antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product)  

English PT: LZV live attenuated herpes zoster unspecified 

A new vaccine has been created to distinguish the recombinant herpes zoster vaccine 

FSN: Vaccine product containing only Human alphaherpesvirus 3 recombinant surface glycoprotein E antigen for herpes zoster prevention (medicinal product) 

English PT: RZV recombinant herpes zoster unspecified 

Historic Vaccines

This content is designed for use when populating an immunization history when the client and/or the provider do not have the detail of the trade name of the vaccine administered OR the product has been discontinued and/or never licensed in Canada. Currently licensed products, described generically, are also included on this list as an immunization history may include products still available in Canada. It consists mainly of concepts from the Medicinal Entity class and from the SNOMED CT Pharmaceutical / biologic product hierarchy that are described using a “generic name”. With time, additional concepts represented by the trade name may be found in this subset when they are no longer licensed for use in Canada, but are required to capture historic data.

Scope definition:

The scope of this subset is vaccines that are currently licensed for use in Canada (generic description, i.e. no trade name), those obtained through special access programs (generic description), and vaccines that have been discontinued and/or never licensed in Canada (with trade name). This content is intended to be used when populating an immunization history when the client and /or provider does not have the detail of the trade name (brand name) of the vaccine administered OR the product has been discontinued and/or never licensed in Canada. This subset will include concepts represented by a generic description for a vaccine that was previously administered to the client as may be expressed by the client or provider for an immunization history and concepts represented by the trade name for products that have been discontinued and/or never licensed in Canada.

General rules applied to this section

• A Canadian Edition concept may be created if the concept does not exist or if the existing concept in the international version is ambiguous.
• A ‘generic’ code is created (when appropriate) when there is not enough information to create a ‘trade name vaccine product’. This may happen when there is missing information or because the product monograph is no longer available.
• It is expected that over time, additional discontinued trade name products which have the ADMINISTRABLE VACCINES format will be found in this subset. In such a case the trade name product format will be kept.
• The preventable disease as described in the Canadian Immunization Guide is the term used for FSN/PS where different options are possible.
  • For example: polio vs poliovirus vs poliomyelitis. Decision: use poliomyelitis.

Modifiers/Qualifiers

• SNOMED CT international terminology is known to be ‘inconsistent’ with the use of modifiers for active ingredient substances when used in the generic name for a product. Here are some rules  applied to the Canadian Edition content as workarounds, until acceptance of an RFC to SNOMED International to change the SNOMED CT international terminology content:
  • For vaccines such as tetanus and diphtheria, “toxoid” is not used in the FSN in the international version.  For the existing international concepts in SNOMED CT, a request for change will be sent to SNOMED International to make this change (this is to be confirmed);
  • The word “adsorbed” is not included in FSN/PS of CA Edition concept, as the absence or presence does not materially change the meaning (unless the term is part of the trade name);
  • If a modifier, such as "inactivated” or "live and / or attenuated", is required, it will be placed after the antigen within the description. e.g. Influenza trivalent inactivated (product);
  • For concepts with multiple antigens and no qualifier for (adult vs pediatric) dosage on the international concept descriptions: it will not be assumed it is a standard dose (= pediatric). Two (2) CA descriptions will be created under the international concept for both the adult and pediatric dose: EN CA PS description will include the ‘pediatric’ or ‘adult’ qualifier added once before ‘unspecified’.
    • For example: DPT diphtheria + pertussis + tetanus pediatric unspecified
  • If the concept is a Canadian Edition concept the FSN description including the ‘low dose’ (=for adult) or ‘standard dose’ (=for pediatric) will be added to each antigen, where appropriate to identify unambiguously the audience targeted by the vaccine.
    • For example: diphtheria standard dose + pertussis standard dose + tetanus vaccine (product)

Case

• Upper-case letters in these vaccine abbreviations denote full-strength doses of diphtheria (D) and tetanus (T) toxoids and pertussis (P) vaccine used in the pediatric formulations. Lower-case “d” and “p” denote reduced doses of diphtheria and pertussis used in the adolescent/adult-formulations. The “a” in DTaP and Tdap stands for “acellular”, meaning that the pertussis component contains only a part of the pertussis organism. Reference: http://www.vaccines.gov/diseases/pertussis/

Antigens

• On CA Edition concepts when there is more than one active antigen in a vaccine, use "+" with a space before and after the ‘+’, for each agent e.g. Acellular pertussis + diphtheria + Haemophilus influenzae type b + tetanus vaccine (product).
• When many antigens are listed, they follow PHAC abbreviation order (for all descriptions).
  • For example: DTaP = Diphtheria + tetanus + acellular pertussis.

Vaccine Abbreviation Code

• The same vaccine abbreviation code (on the EN Preferred Synonym or the French Preferred Synonym) may be used to represent different variations of vaccine products.
  • For example: “Inf”; which is used to represent Influenza vaccine products; include the different types of vaccine products:
    • Inf influenza unspecified
    • Inf influenza A virus subtype H1N1 unspecified
    • Inf influenza A monovalent unspecified
    • Inf influenza A monovalent H1N1 adjuvanted unspecified
    • Inf influenza A monovalent H1N1 unadjuvanted unspecified
    • Inf influenza trivalent unspecified
    • Inf influenza quadrivalent unspecified
      
      
• Some concepts are part of a group of similar concepts.

  • When the subset is sorted to group the similar concepts together, the user can select a more detailed concept when available. For example it is possible to select an adult dose or a child dose, when that information is available. If there is not enough information to select such a detailed code, the user can then select a more generic code. 
    
    For example the Diphtheria group: 

    Concept Code	Concept Name	Preferred Synonym (English)	Preferred Synonym (French)
    428214002	Diphtheria vaccine (product)	Diphtheria unspecified	Diphtérie non spécifié
    7701000087100	Diphtheria standard dose vaccine (product)	D diphtheria pediatric unspecified	D diphtérie pédiatrique non spécifié
    7741000087102	Diphtheria low dose vaccine (product)	d diphtheria adult unspecified	d diphtérie adulte non spécifié

     

    For example the Pertussis Group: 

    Concept Code	Concept Name	Preferred Synonym (English)	Preferred Synonym (French)
    61602008	Pertussis vaccine (product)	Pertussis unspecified *	Coqueluche non spécifié *
    449019003	Acellular pertussis vaccine (product)	Pertussis acellular unspecified *	Coqueluche acellulaire non spécifié *
    7771000087105	Acellular pertussis standard dose vaccine (product)	aP pertussis acellular pediatric unspecified	Ca coqueluche acellulaire pédiatrique non spécifié
    7781000087107	Acellular pertussis low dose vaccine (product)	ap pertussis acellular adult unspecified	ca coqueluche acellulaire adulte non spécifié
    7761000087101	Whole cell pertussis standard dose vaccine (product)	wP pertussis whole cell pediatric unspecified	Coqueluche à germes entiers pédiatrique non spécifié

      *These descriptions do not have a current abbreviation assigned by PHAC (to avoid confusion with discontinued codes)

         

For example the HPV Group:    

• • Other groups are:
    • Poliomyelitis Group
    • Rota Group
    • Meningococcal Group 
    • Pneumococcal Group

The Vaccine Historical Subset may list additional vaccine codes than those found in the CIG or the vaccine abbreviation list. This is to allow the data capture of generic products or trade name products that might not be available in Canada or are discontinued products of different formulation, strength and dosage.

For example:

Fully Specified Name

The format for the Fully Specified Name (FSN) is as follows:

A.     For generic concepts

Vaccine Name  (strength)  vaccine (product)

E.g.: Diphtheria standard dose + tetanus vaccine (product) 

FSN Components

Vaccine Name

• Usually reflects the preventable disease for which the vaccine is administered
• The word “vaccine” is not always included in the FSN of an international concept, but must be included for all CA Edition concepts for generic terms. 

For example: attenuated Bacillus Calmette Guerin (product) (This is an international concept)

• The word “vaccine” may be found next to the vaccine name in some cases:

For example: Hepatitis B virus vaccine regular strength (product) (This is a Canadian Edition concept) 

(Strength)

• There is a requirement to specify the dose form for some vaccines since this allows the differentiation between adult and pediatric doses.

For example:   Acellular pertussis low dose vaccine (product) is for adults, and Acellular pertussis standard dose is for children

• When more than one (1) ingredient is listed, the dose form will be specified for each of the ingredients where more than one (1) dose form is available.

For example: Diphtheria standard dose + tetanus + acellular pertussis standard dose vaccine (product)

Vaccine

• ‘Vaccine’ is added to the FSN description of the ‘historic vaccine’ concepts

(product)

• This is the semantic tag representing the context of use within SNOMED CT: for any concept that is within the Pharmaceutical / biologic product hierarchy.

B.     For concepts that include a Trade Name

• Refer to the VaccineAdministeredTradeNameCode subset, Fully Specified Name section.
• For example: Arepanrix 3.75 micrograms per 0.5 milliliter suspension and emulsion for injection GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (product)

Preferred Synonym (English)

The format for the Preferred Synonym (PS) is as follows:

A.   For generic concepts

PHAC Abbreviation Vaccine Name (qualifier) unspecified   

Examples: 

HA Hepatitis A unspecified 

fIPV poliomyelitis inactivated fractional unspecified 

18 Apr 2024  this is an exeption introduced in the May 2024 release 

IPV poliomyelitis inactivated standard dose unspecified

PS Components

• The word ‘vaccine’ will not be present in the Preferred Synonym

PHAC Abbreviation

• The PHAC abbreviation is used at the beginning of the PS
• There are some descriptions where there is no PHAC abbreviation, generally where historic abbreviations have been discontinued due to similarity to new ones.  To avoid confusion the discontinued abbreviation will not be re-used nor will be included in the historic concepts’ name

For example: Pertussis unspecified; was not allocated with the ‘P’ abbreviation because ‘P’ has been used as the abbreviation for Polio, and for Pertussis (discontinued for both)

• Exception to the PHAC ingredient order ONLY FOR THE HISTORIC VACCINE SUBSET
• In order to present the antigen in alpha order at the user interface, the type is presented after the antigen.

         For example: wP = pertussis whole cell

Vaccine Name

• The active ingredients will be listed as per PHAC’s vaccine abbreviation
• The word “vaccine” is not included in PS description

Qualifier

• A qualifier may be added to the PHAC abbreviation to avoid two (2) PS being  duplicated
  • Adult and pediatric qualifiers will be used to differentiate same product and same strength (same concentration) given to the different populations

For example: d diphtheria adult unspecified and

                            D diphtheria pediatric unspecified

Unspecified

• The word 'unspecified ' is added at the end of all generic concepts.
• The meaning of unspecified is: a product for which the trade name is unknown

B.      For concepts that include a Trade Name

Trade name products may be retired from the Canadian market due to decreased demand, replacement by another product, etc. When this happens, the trade name concept will be inactivated from the Administrable subset and activated in the historic subset.

Refer to the VaccineAdministeredTradeNameCode subset, Preferred Synonym section

For example: Inf Arepanrix GSK

Preferred Synonym (French)

• La traduction de ‘unspecified’ est ‘non spécifié’ (au masculin)
  • La signification de l’expression ‘non spécifié’ fait référence au nom commercial du produit administré qui n’est pas précisé.
• Différents mots peuvent être utilisés pour représenter la maladie, le virus ou le vaccin. Dans le cas de la poliomyélite, le terme retenu entre polio vs poliovirus vs poliomyélite est ‘polio’, parce qu’il figure sur la liste des vaccins du VVWG.
• L’abréviation VPO est traduit sur les sites de l’Agence de la santé publique du Canada (ASPQ) comme : vaccin antipoliomyélitique oral.
  • Le vaccin vivant contre la polio est seulement disponible en formule orale.
• La traduction des expressions suivantes ‘regular strength’, ‘dialysis strength’ et ‘pediatric strength’ est la même que celle trouvée dans le sous-ensemble des antigènes.

Par exemple: HB Hepatitis B virus vaccine X strength (product)

• • • • • regular strength traduit par: formulation régulière
        • dialysis strength traduit par: formulation pour dialyse
        • pediatric strength traduit par: formulation pédiatrique

• Les termes privilégiés ci-dessous avec un (*) ne comportent pas d’abréviation afin d’éviter la confusion avec les codes similaires.