The Novavax vaccine may finally be available to Americans soon, and one top vaccine expert believes it can help solve some issues health officials have faced during the vaccine rollout so far.
Dr Cody Meissner is the chief of pediatrics at Tufts Children’s Hospital in Boston Massachusetts and serves as a member of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC).
He told DailyMail.com that some people concerned about the novel nature and potential side-effects of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots could be willing to receive the Novavax jab, which is a standard protein based vaccine.
Unlike the others, it also does not require hyper-cold storage with dry ice, which makes it easier and less costly to transport – a boon for some developing nations where vaccines are few and far-between.
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine has some health experts excited, as the shot is a more standard ‘protein’ based vaccine, and can more easily be stored and transported than other vaccines. The company is seeking FDA authorization to use its shot in U.S. adults (file photo)
Novavax has has supply issues in its rollout of it shot. It just recently submitted its application for FDA authorization after months of waiting, and the country missed its Q1 vaccine orders for 2022 after projecting to roll out two billion shots this year (file photo)
‘It is exciting,’ Meissner said about the prospect of the Novavax shot.
The Novavax jab has been lauded by health experts in recent months due to its safety and effectiveness in clinical trials.
While it is universally agreed upon by experts and officials that the Moderna and Pfizer shots are safe and effective, there is still room for them to be upgraded upon.
The Novavax is a protein based shot, unlike previous shots. Moderna and Pfizer’s shots use mRNA technology that uses nucleic acid to generate a spike protein that imitates that of what the virus uses to infect a person’s cells.
Like the mRNA jabs, it is a two-dose vaccine with the shots to be administered around three weeks apart from each other. The company first is seeking to roll it out to Americans 18 and up, and is studying the shot for children as young as 12.
mRNA technology is very promising, and many experts are hopeful it can be used in future vaccines. Its novel nature gives some hesitancy in wanting to receive shots that use it, though, and conspiracy theories about the shot ‘changing people’s DNA’ and more have been rampant on social media.
Novavax’s shot is similar to the yearly flu shot, or others of the over a dozen vaccines Americans are scheduled for before the age of 18.
Dr Cody Meissner (pictured), a member of the FDA’s VRBPAC, is hopeful that the more familiar nature of the Novavax shot will ease some concerns of the vaccine hesitant
‘It’s pure protein, there is no nucleic acid that is injected into your body. That protein stimulates protected antibody and T-cell response,’ Meissner explained.
‘We’re much more familiar with protein vaccines.’
The less-novel nature of the jab could spur some hesitant people to finally go get the shots.
‘Many people are reluctant to be immunized. They’re called anti-vaxxers in the press, but I think a lot of that 20 percent [of unvaccinated Americans] are people who have fully immunized themselves and their children against [other viral diseases]. They’re just a little nervous about the mRNA vaccine,’ Meissner said.
‘They may be more willing to immunize with a more standard protein vaccine.’
Meissner also believes it could be a more effective shot long-term.
Efficacy from the mRNA vaccines fades within a matter of months, requiring the use of booster shots. The shots are also not very resistant to vaccine mutations, allowing new variants like Omicron to emerge and evade vaccine protection.
Novavax’s shot may have more resistance to virus variant’s, Meissner predicts, as it showed effectiveness against the Omicron variant in trials.
Storage of the shots is less arduous than it is for others as well. Moderna and Pfizer’s shots require storage at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius in order to be transported.
They can only be kept at regular freezing temperatures for as long as two weeks before they spoil as well.
This has proved to be a problem for some developing nations, as storage at those temperatures requires dry ice, which is not readily available in many parts of the world.
Novavax’s shot also did not use fetal stem lines in its development and trial process, an objection some conservative-leaning Christians have had toward the existing shots.
Novavax’s shot can be stored in normal freezing temperatures, which is less resource intensive and more accessible for the developing world.
Despite all the excitement generated over the shot among health leaders over the past year, the company has had trouble getting the shot into people’s arms.
Novavax expected to make its COVID-19 vaccine available to Americans in early 2021, but the company blamed supply issues for long delays.
It finally filed its application for emergency use authorization in the U.S. this year, and has received approval from European regulators and some developing countries, but that was not the end of the issues.
Meissner is a member of the FDA committee that will review the company’s application.
The Maryland based company planned to deliver two billion shots around the world this year – a lofty goal for a company that took this long to have a product to ship.
It already is on pace to miss its 2022 Q1 targets, though, once again underdelivering.
On Monday, Germany began to first distribute and administer that shots, becoming one of the first nations to actually use the mythical jab.
Meissner believes the shot can really shine as a booster, though. Because it is effective against Omicron and it is believed the heterologous vaccination – when a person receives a booster that is different than their original vaccine regimen – is most effective, Novavax could be a key part of the nation’s vaccine rollout going forward.
If the company can fix issues on its own end, the stage is set for the company to dominate the booster rollout going forward, which some officials could last beyond the next decade.
