Novavax Covid vaccine receives emergency approval, all about it

Novavax announced it had received the first emergency use authorisation nod on Tuesday for its Covid-19 vaccine for adolescents between the ages 12-18 years in India. As per the official statement released by Novavax, the vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, is being produced and marketed in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and the vaccine is marketed under the brand name 'Covovax.'

Novavax is India's first protein-based vaccine approved for children aged 12 to 18. Novavax announced last month that their vaccine was 80 per cent effective against Covid-19 after its final testing stage. During the trials, it elicited an immunological reaction. 

Covovax has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for active immunisation in individuals aged 12 and up for limited use in an emergency. Covovax has also been granted an Emergency Use listing (EUL) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). 

For 12 years and older in India, Covovax is the fourth vaccine against coronavirus that is authorised, following the Biological E's Corbevax, Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. Stanley C Erck, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Novavax, stated that they are proud of the first approval in adolescents. ANI quoted him stating that they are proud of this first approval in adolescents given the efficacy and safety that their data show in this population. The Covid-19 vaccine will provide an alternative protein-based vaccine option for individuals 12 years of age and older in India. 

The CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII), Adar Poonawala, stated that this approval marks another significant milestone in strengthening immunisation efforts across India and LMICs, as per ANI. 

India began vaccinating youngsters aged 12 to 14 with doses of Biological E's Corbevax last week, previously only done for children aged 15 and up. According to data from the Ministry of Health, 50,32,055 first doses were given to youngsters aged 12 to 14.

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• Ages 12-18 years
• Serum Institute of India
• coronavirus
• covid-19
• emergency use
• Novavax