South Korea approves Novavax coronavirus vaccine

SEOUL — South Korea’s cause regulator connected Wednesday granted last authorization to Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine for usage successful adults, wellness officials said successful a quality release, making it the 5th coronavirus vaccine disposable successful the country.

Though the authorization is conditioned connected the Maryland-based company’s submission of the last results of objective studies regarding its vaccine, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Novavax’s coronavirus vaccine has received “final” support successful Korea. The vaccine, which volition beryllium produced locally, is effectual and safe, the regulator said.

The AstraZeneca-Oxford, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines person been successful usage successful South Korea, wherever 84 percent of the country’s 52 cardinal radical are afloat vaccinated. Pfizer-BioNTech’s has been astir commonly used, according to government data.

In June, Novavax announced that its vaccine was 90 percent effectual at protecting radical from illness. Last month, the institution said it “showed beardown immune responses against Omicron and different circulating variants.”

South Korea’s authorization of the Novavax vaccine comes aft the European Medicines Agency past period recommended it for usage successful the European Union, the World Health Organization validated it for exigency use and India’s cause regulator granted it exigency usage authorization. Novavax said past period it expects to taxable its exertion for exigency usage successful the United States astir precocious January.

Novavax’s vaccine was 1 of six candidates initially backed by the U.S. government, which awarded a $1.6 cardinal contract to the institution successful 2020 contempt Novavax ne'er having produced a vaccine that had crossed the regulatory decorativeness line. The institution aboriginal encountered accumulation and objective delays, portion competitors raced ahead.

The institution is present yet poised to nutrient doses for usage worldwide and has plans to make a vaccine targeting the omicron variant. The institution hopes to “achieve an excess of 2 cardinal doses successful 2022,” John Trizzino, Novavax’s main commercialized and concern officer, told The Washington Post past week.

Novavax’s vaccine is simply a two-dose regimen to beryllium administered 3 weeks isolated and tin beryllium stored successful mean refrigerator temperatures of astir 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes the vaccine easier to beryllium shipped to underdeveloped parts of the world. Novavax and its partner, the Serum Institute of India, person agreed to nonstop the planetary vaccine entree programme Covax astir 1.1 cardinal doses.

The WHO is aiming to vaccinate 70 percent of each state by mid-2022. It did not conscionable its extremity of vaccinating 40 percent of each state by the extremity of 2021, arsenic lower-income nations struggled to get capable supplies.

And with the advent of the omicron variant, which has been shown to beryllium amended astatine dodging extortion provided by existing coronavirus vaccines, the satellite is again facing a proviso problem, wellness experts warned.

Last week, a squad of nationalist wellness advocates and scientists concluded that the satellite volition request 22 cardinal coronavirus mRNA vaccine doses to dilatory the pandemic’s spread. That is acold beyond the world’s existent accumulation capabilities, the experts said successful a report. Scaling up capableness to conscionable this request volition outgo up to “$12 cardinal successful superior expenses,” and six months, they said successful their report: “The clip to enactment is now.”