Novavax seeks OK for emergency use of Covid vaccine in India, Indonesia

 

Vaccine maker Novavax announced Thursday it has asked regulators in India, Indonesia and the Philippines to allow emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine -- offering its shot to some low-income countries before rich ones with ample supplies.

US-based Novavax partnered with the Serum Institute of India to apply in the three countries, and plans later this month to also seek the World Health Organization review needed to be part of the COVAX global vaccine programme.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck called the submissions an important step toward access to millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine for countries with an urgent need to control the pandemic.

The company announced it also plans to submit applications in Britain soon, followed by Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, but not in the US until later in the year.

The Novavax two-dose shot is made with lab-grown copies of the spike protein that coats the coronavirus. That's very different than other widely used vaccines that deliver genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike protein. Read More