Pending authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, the federal government has secured 3.2 million cases of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine. The government hopes the two-dose, protein-based vaccine will appeal to those Americans who have turned down vaccination with newer mRNA technology.
“While more than two-thirds of the American public are already fully vaccinated, we must maintain a sense of urgency to ensure all eligible individuals get vaccinated, particularly heading into the fall,” said Jason Roos, COO of the Department of Health and Human Services Coordination Operations and Response Element (H-CORE). “This latest vaccine would offer people another choice to help protect themselves from severe disease or hospitalization caused by COVID-19.”
Novavax is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine available and the first made with an older protein-based technology used in shingles vaccines and other shots.
The development comes as two more COVID-19 variants, BA.2.75 and BA.5.2.1, have surfaced around the world. Health officials in Shanghai on Sunday said they discovered a new variant, BA.5.2.1; a third case of BA.2.75 appeared in the United States last week.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 strains BA.4 and BA.5 have become the dominant forms of the coronavirus in the U.S. Those infected with it may develop a cough, runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, headaches and muscle pains. They are less likely to lose their senses of taste and smell, or to experience shortness of breath, as compared with those infected with other strains of the coronavirus, according to an infection disease specialist in The New York Times.
