প্রকাশ: 14/07/2022
The US Food and Drug
Administration authorized the use of Novavax Inc's Covid-19 vaccine on
Wednesday, clearing the way for a shot whose more traditional technology has
raised hopes of wider acceptance among vaccine skeptics.
Shares of Novavax rose 1.3% to $70.89 after its two-dose
vaccine became the fourth Covid shot to be authorized for use in adults in the
United States.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
still needs to sign off on the use of the vaccine before it can be made
available to people.
A panel of CDC advisers on vaccines is expected to meet on
Tuesday, but the agenda has not been released yet.
Earlier this week, the US government said it had secured 3.2
million Novavax vaccine doses, which it plans to release once the company
finishes quality testing in the next few weeks.
More than two-thirds of the US population has been fully
vaccinated with shots from Moderna Inc, Pfizer-BioNTech, or Johnson &
Johnson.
US health officials hope that people who have opted not to
take Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine, which are based on the groundbreaking
messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, will instead opt for Novavax's protein-based
shot.
The vaccine, already approved in Europe, is based on a
technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases including
hepatitis B and influenza.
"Today's authorization offers adults in the United
States who have not yet received a Covid-19 vaccine another option that meets
the FDA's rigorous standards," FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said in a
statement.
In Europe, however, demand for the shot has not been
significantly high, with about 242,000 doses of the vaccine administered since
its launch in December, prompting Novavax to increase its focus on lower-income
countries.
The company's initial application for US authorization of
the shot was delayed by almost a year on development and production problems,
making it a late entrant in the country's market for Covid vaccines.
Novavax has projected between $4 billion and $5 billion in
sales this year. Analysts expect sales at the lower end of that range,
according to Refinitiv.
- Reuters
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