An influential scientific panel will meet Tuesday to discuss who should get a newly authorized Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax, a Maryland drug company that hopes its shot will appeal to people America refuses to vaccinate so far.
Independent experts, who advise the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its vaccine policies, will convene at 10 a.m. ET (you can watch the meeting here). here). they are scheduled to vote on whether Novavax’s endorsement of a vaccine will, at least initially, play a limited role in the country’s vaccination campaign. Food and Drug Administration last week authorize it is the primary immunization for adults, but has not been considered for booster vaccination.
The Biden Administration speak last week that it would purchase 3.2 million doses of the two-shot vaccine, enough to fully immunize 1.6 million people in the United States. This vaccine is not yet available in pharmacies and other clinics that administer the vaccine in the United States. In announcing the drug purchases, the government said that Novavax expected to complete quality checks soon, a necessary step before doses could be released.
If the CDC panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, votes in favor of the vaccine, the next step would be for CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky to accept the recommendations of the CDC. it, this usually happens quickly.
In clinical trials, this vaccine has been shown to be highly protective against infections and severe illness caused by coronaviruses, but these trials were conducted before the appearance of the Omicron variant, which had drastically reduce the effectiveness of other authorized vaccines in preventing infection.
At Tuesday’s meeting, a CDC official will review clinical trial data linking the vaccine to an increased risk of developing forms of heart inflammation known as myocarditis and pericarditis. heart. In their review of Novavax dataFDA scientists identified six cases of these conditions in about 40,000 test volunteers.
Novavax’s vaccine works differently from the three Covid vaccines previously authorized in the United States. It stimulate immune response with nanoparticles made up of proteins from the surface of the coronavirus that causes the Covid-19 disease. Similar protein-based vaccines have been used globally for decades.
Novavax executives say the tried-and-tested technology will make the vaccine more acceptable to those concerned that it messenger RNA technology used by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in their vaccines, which account for the majority of vaccinations in the United States.
