Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisers today recommended the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for the primary series in adults, which comes as two more transmissible Omicron subvariants expanded their dominance to more than 90% of sequenced specimens.Meanwhile, a top European health official today warned countries to take steps now to battle rising COVID levels, which could complicate efforts to battle a potential flu wave in the fall.Another option for the unvaccinatedThe Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), after presentations from federal health officials and Novavax and the group's own deliberations, unanimously approved the recommendation for people ages 18 years and older.After the vote, Oliver Brooks, MD, chief medical officer with Watts Healthcare Corporation, said the primary vaccination target should be the 10% to 13% of the US population that remains unvaccinated. "We need to focus," he said.
ACIP members welcomed the availability of a fourth COVID-19 vaccine and said they eagerly anticipate a plan for Novavax boosters in the near future.Officials hope Novavax, made with more traditional cell-based processes, will sway some people to become vaccinated.
It contains the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein produced in insect cells and contains the Matrix-M adjuvant to boost the immune system.The Biden administration has bought 3.5 million doses of the vaccine, which is administered in a two-dose series given 3 to 8 weeks apart.
Those with moderate or severe immune compromise should receive the doses 3 weeks apart.Shipments of the vaccine have already begun, but providers can't administer it until the CDC accepts the ACIP's recommendation, which it typically does.Monkeypox vaccine