US FDA authorises Novavax Covid vaccine for adults

Approval creates fourth option for Americans who have not yet been vaccinated

Shares of Novavax rose 1.3 per cent to $70.89 after its two-dose vaccine became the fourth Covid shot to be authorised for use by adults in the US. Reuters

The US Food and Drug Administration authorised the use of Novavax's Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday, clearing the way for a shot whose more traditional technology has raised hopes of wider acceptance among vaccine sceptics.

Shares of Novavax rose 1.3 per cent to $70.89 after its two-dose vaccine became the fourth Covid shot to be authorised for use by adults in the US.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still needs to sign off on the use of the vaccine before it can be made available.

A panel of CDC vaccine advisers is expected to meet on Tuesday, but the agenda has not been released yet.

Earlier this week, the US government said it had secured 3.2 million Novavax vaccine doses, which it plans to release once the company finishes quality testing in the next few weeks.

More than two thirds of the US population has been fully vaccinated with shots from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech or Johnson & Johnson.

US health officials hope that people who have chosen not to take the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are based on groundbreaking messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, will instead opt for Novavax's protein-based shot.

The vaccine, already approved in Europe, uses on a technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases including hepatitis B and influenza.

“Today's authorisation offers adults in the United States who have not yet received a Covid-19 vaccine another option that meets the FDA's rigorous standards,” FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a statement.

In Europe, however, demand for the shot has not been especially high, with about 242,000 doses of the vaccine administered since its launch in December, prompting Novavax to increase its focus on lower-income countries.

The company's initial application for authorisation of the shot in the US was delayed by almost a year on development and production problems, making it a late entrant in the country's market for Covid vaccines.