The presence of Polyomavirus Simian Virus 40 (SV40), which is a monkey-linked DNA sequence known to cause cancer when it was used in old polio vaccines, has been confirmed by Health Canada to be present in the Pfizer COVID shot, a fact that was not disclosed by the vaccine maker to officials.

As first reported by The Epoch Times last week, there is still ongoing debate among scientists regarding the findings, with some reporting SV40 poses a cancer risk and was hidden on purpose while others say it is nothing to worry about.

As per an email that was sent to The Epoch Times, Health Canada said it "expects sponsors to identify any biologically functional DNA sequences within a plasmid (such as an SV40 enhancer) at the time of submission."

"Although the full DNA sequence of the Pfizer plasmid was provided at the time of initial filing, the sponsor did not specifically identify the SV40 sequence," Health Canada added.

Health Canada noted that Kevin McKernan, a microbiologist and former researcher and team leader for the MIT Human Genome project, and Dr. Phillip J. Buckhaults, who is a professor of cancer genomics as well as the director of the Cancer Genetics Lab at the University of South Carolina, had raised in a public manner earlier this year how SV40 was present in the jabs.

After this, Health Canada noted, it was "possible for Health Canada to confirm the presence of the enhancer based on the plasmid DNA sequence submitted by Pfizer against the published SV40 enhancer sequence."

SV40 is used to enhance gene transcription when the shots are made.

According to McKernan, he noted in correspondence to The Epoch Times, that Pfizer did not let it be known of SV40 being in the COVID shots given its cancer link when it was used in polio vaccines decades ago.