EU secures 200 million doses of Novavax vaccine

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EU secures access to up to 200 million doses of possible new Corona vaccine from U.S.

The EU Commission, which is responsible for purchasing accredited Covid 19 vaccines, announced Wednesday that it had approved the conclusion of a corresponding contract with U.S. manufacturer Novavax. However, the vaccine candidate still has to be found safe by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

“As new coronavirus variants spread in Europe and around the world, this new contract with a company that is already successfully testing its vaccine on these variants is a further safeguard to protect our population,” said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Commission has already signed six other purchase guarantee contracts with Corona vaccine manufacturers. Through the new agreement, member states can initially purchase 100 million doses from Novavax. In addition, there is an option to purchase another 100 million once the vaccine has been reviewed by the EMA.

The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine, which requires two injections, has a 90.4 percent efficacy rate, according to the latest studies, Novavax announced in June. That means vaccinated subjects had about 90 percent less disease than unvaccinated subjects.

NVX-CoV2373, unlike previously approved vaccines, is neither an mRNA vaccine – like the preparations from Biontech and Moderna – nor a vector vaccine like Astrazeneca’s: the vaccine contains tiny particles composed of a lab-created version of the spike protein from Sars-CoV-2.