Protein vaccines, will Novavax convince No Vax?
Novavax does not use technologies neither mRNA (Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna) nor viral vector (AstraZeneca, J&J) but is part of protein vaccines, a type already in use for decades against diseases such as pertussis, hepatitis or meningitis. All the details and the latest updates on the UK that may soon be marketing it
The path of Nuvaxovid, the vaccine of the US biotech Novavax, continues. After Indonesia – the first country in the world to authorize its emergency use – and the Philippines, the United Kingdom is now preparing to give approval for marketing. The government, the Guardian said , has already ordered 60 million doses.
WHAT IS NOVAVAX DIFFERENT
Novavax, unlike mRNA vaccines (such as Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna) or viral vector (such as AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson), is indeed a new generation vaccine, but it has a long history of studies and tests of safety and efficacy behind it.
It is part of protein vaccines, a type already in use for decades against diseases such as pertussis, hepatitis and meningitis, herpes zoster and other viral infections.
Protein vaccines, to provoke an immune response, provide cells with proteins and adjuvants, rather than a fragment of the genetic code. It is therefore a vaccine made at a biological level with recombined proteins.
WILL IT BE ENOUGH TO CONVINCE THE NO VAX?
Of the Novavax vaccine, Professor Roberto Cauda, professor of Infectious Diseases at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and director of the Infectious Diseases Operating Unit at the Gemelli Polyclinic, interviewed by the Subsidiary said: "it would be ideal for all those who fear current vaccines because they don't want to be injected with genetic material. Not being a gene vaccine, if this can lead to vaccination the hesitant is still an important thing ".
THE RESULTS
In the application submitted by Novavax to the Food and Drug Admininstration (Fda) it is written that in a study of 30,000 people the drug showed 90% effectiveness . The test, however, was carried out before the arrival of the Delta variant.
However, according to Reuters , the EMA should deliberate long before the FDA because, in the United States, Novavax has had to solve production problems.
THE ADVANTAGES
Novavax, produced by the homonymous American biotechnology company of Gaithersburg, Maryland, among other advantages is that it is extremely economical as well as easy to transport and store since it can be stored in a normal refrigerator. It is administered in two doses 21 days apart.
THE OTHER PROTEIN VACCINES
But there are also other protein-based Covid vaccines that are in the last stage of clinical trials, including one developed by Sanofi and GSK. Final data from its phase 3 trial are expected shortly, but again the UK has already ordered 60 million doses .
UNITED KINGDOM READY TO AUTHORIZE NOVAVAX
British regulators, according to the Guardian , seem ready to give the go-ahead to Novavax, which would become the fourth authorized vaccine in the country.
In fact, according to the National Health Service (NHS) , there are already four authorized vaccines in the United Kingdom: AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, which however, according to the NHS website, will be available at the end of the year.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/vaccini-proteici-novavax-convincera-i-no-vax/ on Thu, 25 Nov 2021 11:19:08 +0000.