This is the fourth vaccine created in the US, developed according to the traditional protein-based methodology, which distinguishes it from mRNA vaccines. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consultants have unanimously voted to use Novavax's NVAX.O COVID-19 vaccine and recommend it to individuals over 18 years of age.
The vaccine has already been approved by the Immunization Practices Advisory Committee, whose director Rochelle Walensky has yet to sign the recommendations before the new vaccine becomes available in the United States. At the moment, 3.2 million doses of Novavax are ready, but the government is waiting for the company to finish testing their quality. After that, the vaccine will become available for use.
Novavax plans to complete testing within the next few weeks. And last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the drug for primary vaccination. This makes the new vaccine the fourth approved for use in the American adult population in the fight against coronavirus.
Novax hopes that their protein-based development will be widely accepted by skeptics because it is based on an old technology that is different from today's mRNA vaccines. These protein-based vaccines have long been successfully used to fight hepatitis B and influenza. To date, about 77% of American adults have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus with vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson.
Until the end of summer, a new wave of COVID-19 is predicted in the United States, associated with new variants of the "omicron" strain. The number of infections is also growing in European countries such as Germany, Italy, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Greece and Spain. Experts explain this with the spread of such variants of the virus as BA.4 and BA.5, which are more contagious than the previous ones. In addition, new outbreaks of the disease contribute to the excellent precautionary measures of the authorities.
