NOVAVAX. After being official in Indonesia at the beginning of the week, Novavax’s anti-Covid vaccine, Covovax, whose effectiveness will be 100% in severe and moderate forms, is expected in France.
US pharmaceutical company specializing in Novavax vaccine sees its Covovax vaccine legalized for the first time: Indonesia effectively approves Covid-19 vaccine Monday 1is November. It will be produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII). It therefore seems very likely that it will soon be legalized and then available in France. The distribution of Novavax vaccine in Indonesia can effectively promote its spread throughout the world. Monday 1is Novavax said in November that it had submitted authorization requests to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and to Canada. In addition, requests are being studied in the UK, Australia and others have also been submitted to the World Health Organization (WHO). Novavax is expected to file applications in the United States “by the end of the year,” the company said.
How effective is the Covovax vaccine?
Very promisingly, Covovax will have vaccine efficacy similar to, or even better than, other currently official vaccines. Novavax therefore confirmed on Monday June 14 that its anti-Covid vaccine is generally 90.4% effective, including against variants, and 100% against moderate and severe forms, following the results of a study conducted on 30,000 people in the United States and Mexico.
What is vaccine technology?
Covovax uses a different technology than that used by messenger RNA vaccines. So, if “the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines provide the genetic instructions that enable the body to produce this well-known, sophisticated protein ‘Spike’ protein that will elicit an immune response”, explains Jean-Michel Dogné, director of the pharmaceutical division of UNamur and member of the Vaccination Task Force, Covovax is a so-called “subunit” vaccine. In other words, it relies on proteins to activate immune protection and does not contain viruses.
This protein subunit technology is well known and is mainly used in vaccines against hepatitis B or against human papillomavirus infection. However, it has been improved in the Covovax framework: the subunits are assembled there in nanoparticles and the additives (in vaccines the additives are essential for the immune response leading to protection) used are new and have never been used. in other vaccines.
Despite using a different technology, Covovax should be given in the same way as the messenger RNA vaccine, in two doses spaced about 21 days apart. In addition, Novavax’s anti-Covid vaccine is easier to store (and therefore distribute) than its competitors: it can be stored between 2°C and 8°C, so it would be easier to store in developing countries.
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