U.S. CDC approves Novavax COVID vaccine for adults

The U.S. government has secured 3.2 million Novavax vaccine doses

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday recommended the use of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for individuals aged 18 and above. CDC director Rochelle Walensky said the decision "expanded the options available" to U.S. adults for vaccinations. The recommendation came after CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously approved the vaccine. This was a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had authorized the vaccine as a two-dose primary vaccination series.

The U.S. government has secured 3.2 million Novavax vaccine doses. Novavax expects to ship doses for the U.S. government to distribute in the coming days. More than 77% of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated with shots from Moderna Inc., Pfizer-BioNTech, or Johnson & Johnson. Novavax hopes its protein-based shot can reach wider acceptance among vaccine skeptics because it uses an older technology than messenger RNA vaccines. Protein-based vaccines have been used for decades to combat diseases including hepatitis B and influenza. With the Novavax shots, "we really need to focus on that population with the hope that (the new shot) will change them over from being unvaccinated," said Dr. Oliver Brooks, one of the ACIP voting members.