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Novavax’s Long-Awaited COVID-19 Vaccine Authorizations Offer an Alternative to mRNA
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Novavax’s Long-Awaited COVID-19 Vaccine Authorizations Offer an Alternative to mRNA

European Commission and World Health Organization approvals usher in key addition to vaccine supply

Meredith Wadman
Science, 2021
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8

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  • Analytical
  • Scientific
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Recommendation

Expanding distribution of a new vaccine produced by Maryland biotech firm Novavax, recently authorized for emergency use, means jab-hungry countries may finally start gaining control of COVID-19. Besides offering efficacy roughly equivalent to that of mRNA vaccines, Novavax’s more traditional “dead-virus” version doesn’t require super cold storage, making it more suitable for use in the world’s poor, remote regions.

Summary

Novavax won emergency authorization for its highly anticipated COVID-19 vaccine on December 17, 2021.

The European Commission, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), green-lighted the Maryland biotechnology firm’s distribution of the world’s first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine. Instead of delivering genes that order cells to make COVID-19’s spike protein, Novavax’s product injects the viral spike protein directly into the body.

Less rigorous temperature requirements and an expanded refrigerator life – eight months longer than mRNA vaccines – permits wider distribution to impoverished countries, extending the world’s vaccine supply as the Omicron variant surges. The vaccine’s emergency use designation, manufactured and licensed by the Serum Institute of India, enables distribution of more than a billion doses by the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility, which serves needy countries.

The European Medicines Agency awarded the vaccine a “positive recommendation,” allowing its distribution in 27 European Union...

About the Author

Meredith Wadman, MD, joined Science as a staff writer in September 2016. She has been a staff writer for Nature and a contributing writer at Fortune. Her first book was The Vaccine Race: Science, Politics and the Human Costs of Defeating Disease.

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