The World Health Organization approved a COVID vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Novavax for emergency use. Following approval from the European Union’s medicines regulator.
On Monday, the European Medicines Agency evaluated and approved Nuvaxovid. It is made with more conventional technology than others that have already been approved, prompting officials in Brussels to express hope that it will persuade those who are hesitant about vaccination to come forward.
It is made with more conventional technology than others that have already been approved, prompting officials in Brussels to express hope that it will persuade those who are hesitant about vaccination to come forward.
The vaccine employs traditional technology that involves proteins found on coronavirus spike proteins that cause an immune response. It is a tried-and-true method that has been used for decades to immunize people against diseases such as hepatitis B and whooping cough.
The two-shot Nuvaxovid vaccine is the UN health agency‘s 10th Covid vaccine to receive a EUL.
Novavax Efficiency
According to WHO, Nuvaxovid was around 90% effective in reducing symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in two large clinical studies involving over 45,000 people, one in the United Kingdom and the other in the United States and Mexico.
In a separate document, WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Immunization Experts recommended the new vaccine for use in people over the age of 18, with a three to the four-week interval between doses.
“The vaccine should not be administered with less than a three-week interval,” it cautioned.
It can be stored at refrigerated temperatures ranging from 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, giving it a logistical advantage over mRNA vaccines, which must be stored at ultra-low temperatures.
The Covovax shot, a version of Novavax’s vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India under license from the US-based company, is one of the Covid vaccines that has already received a WHO EUL.
It was approved on December 17th. The list also includes mRNA vaccines manufactured by BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna, Johnson&Johnson, AstraZeneca (which is counted twice for versions manufactured in Europe and India), the Indian-made Covaxin, and the Chinese-made Sinopharm and Sinovac.
The WHO also recently resumed testing the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, which had been on hold for several months due to a lack of data.
