Novavax jab for coronavirus cleared for use in US

NEW YORK • The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended that a newly authorised Novavax vaccine be used as an option for adults seeking a primary immunisation against the coronavirus.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, the CDC's director, signed off on the recommendation of a panel of vaccine experts who had unanimously endorsed the vaccine on Tuesday.

The decision removes the final regulatory hurdle for the fourth Covid-19 shot authorised in the US.

The Novavax vaccine is expected to play a limited role in the country's immunisation campaign, at least initially.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised it as a primary immunisation for adults, but has not yet considered it for a booster shot.

Novavax, a Maryland pharmaceutical firm, received significant federal funding to develop its shot but fell far behind in the vaccine race.

Even so, it is hoping the shot will appeal to Americans who have declined to be vaccinated.

Some 26 million to 37 million adults in the US have not yet received a coronavirus vaccine, according to survey data.

In the countries where it has been available for months, Novavax's shot has yet to have a significant effect on vaccination rates.

Novavax said in its presentation to the panel on Tuesday that just over one million doses of its vaccine had been administered worldwide through the end of June, a tiny fraction compared with the reach of competing shots.

The Biden administration has said it would buy 3.2 million doses of Novavax's two-shot vaccine, enough to fully vaccinate 1.6 million people in the country.

The vaccine is not yet available in pharmacies and other clinics that administer shots.

Novavax said after the panel's vote that the FDA had signed off on the first doses intended for the US and that the company expects to ship its vaccine to a distribution centre "in the coming days".

With two doses spaced three weeks apart, the vaccine was found to be highly protective against infection and severe disease from Covid-19 in clinical trials. But those tests were done before the emergence of the Omicron variant, which has sharply reduced the effectiveness of other authorised vaccines.

Novavax's vaccine works differently from the three Covid-19 authorised vaccines. It provokes an immune response with nanoparticles made up of proteins from the surface of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

Dr Evelyn Twentyman of the CDC presented results from a survey suggesting that relatively few unvaccinated Americans would choose Novavax. Just 16 per cent of unvaccinated respondents said they "probably" or "definitely" would get a protein-based vaccine, and 50 per cent of unvaccinated respondents said they "probably" or "definitely" would not.

NYTIMES