The World Health Organization on Tuesday approved a tenth COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
The global health agency added Nuvaxovid, also known as NVX-CoV2373, to its emergency use listing following an approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
The new vaccine was developed by Maryland-based biotech company Novavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Stanley C. Erck, president and CEO of Novavax, said authorization of the vaccine would make it the first protein-based vaccine for the European Union during a “critical time when we believe having choice among vaccines will lead to increased immunization.”
Officials found that Nuvaxovid was effective at preventing COVID-19 in people 18 years and up based on results from two main clinical trials involving thousands of people, the EMA said Monday.
In the studies, participants either received the COVID-19 vaccine or a placebo.
One of the studies involved nearly 30,000 participants in the U.S. and Mexico and found a 90.4% efficacy in reducing the number of symptomatic coronavirus cases from seven days after the second dose in people who received Nuvaxovid.
The second study, which enrolled more than 14,000 participants in Britain, found an overall efficacy of 89.7%.
“The original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and some variants of concern such as Alpha and Beta were the most common viral strains circulating when the studies were ongoing,” the EMA said. “There is currently limited data on the efficacy of Nuvaxovid against other variants of concern, including Omicron.”
The side effects from the vaccine were usually mild and gone within a couple of days following inoculation, the EMA said, noting the most common ones were tenderness or pain at the injection site, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, and nausea or vomiting.
The EMA said it will continue to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Novavax also developed the Covovax vaccine, which received emergency use authorization by WHO on Dec. 17.
Both Nuvaxovid and Covovax require two doses and need to be refrigerated at just above freezing — from 35.6 degrees to 46.4 degrees.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
• Shen Wu Tan can be reached at stan@washingtontimes.com.
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