EU green light for Novavax's protein-based vaccine

BRUSSELS • The European Commission has authorised a Covid-19 vaccine made by Novavax, making it the fifth vaccine available in the 27 nations of the European Union.

"At a time where the Omicron variant is rapidly spreading, and where we need to step up vaccination and the administration of boosters, I am particularly pleased with today's authorisation of the Novavax vaccine," commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

But it is not yet clear how well the vaccine, known as Nuvaxovid, will work against the contagious new Omicron variant. And there may not be much demand for the new vaccine in Europe, which is already flush with vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and other sources.

Novavax last year won US$1.7 billion (S$2.3 billion) in support from the United States government to develop a vaccine made of proteins from the coronavirus.

In a final report published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, the company's researchers found that Nuvaxovid was 90 per cent effective against symptomatic infection and 100 per cent effective against moderate to severe disease.

Protein-based vaccines generally have a strong track record of safety and mild side effects. Nuvaxovid's side effects are usually mild or moderate and clear up within a couple days.

NYTIMES