Novavax receives FDA approval for emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Novavax receives FDA approval for emergency use of NEW COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19 vaccine was approved for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday. It is the fourth Coronavirus vaccine available in the United States, and it uses a different type of vaccine technology.

Adults 18 and older will be able to get Novavax’s vaccine as a two-dose primary series.

According to the FDA’s independent Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks for adults. In addition to the United States, 170 other countries use it. Officials urge Americans over 50 to get COVID-19 booster right away, but younger adults have to wait.

Shots cannot be administered until an independent vaccine advisory panel and the director of the CDC have approved the vaccine recommendation. 

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is scheduled to meet today, July 19, 2022. 

In the same way, as Hepatitis B and Pertussis Vaccines, the COVID-19 Vaccine uses harmless virus fragments to teach the immune system to recognize and fight the virus. The Vaccine was created out of a genetic sequence of the first strain of the Coronavirus.

Unlike some of the other COVID-19 shots, Novavax’s Vaccine can be stored in standard refrigeration.

More than 100 million Americans are not vaccinated against COVID-19, roughly one in three. Many officials and health care workers hope that a vaccine like Novavax, which uses more familiar technology, may be enough to persuade people who have been hesitant to receive a COVID vaccine. 

Late-stage trials found that the efficacy of the vaccine against mild, moderate, and severe disease is 90.4%, according to Novavax. 

At this stage, there isn’t sufficient evidence to evaluate the impact of the vaccine on the transmission of the virus. Novavax announced its vaccine shows a “broad” immune response to currently circulating variants, including Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5.

Novavax’s vaccine was developed with funding from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed. On Monday, the Biden administration announced that it had secured 3.2 million doses of the Novavax vaccine.

The company said that it expects the vaccine to be available quickly, pending sign-off from the CDC.

Novavax is planning to offer vaccines to adolescents and children as young as 2 years of age. Data on the efficacy of kids’ shots will be available “in the coming months,” and Novavax hopes to offer shots to children later this year.