Covid, green light from Aifa for the Novavax vaccine

• Green light from Ema and the European Commission to the Novavax vaccine, the fifth approved in Europe

• Novavax and the others, the 5 vaccines approved by the EMA

• Giorgio Palù replies: Omicron, Novavax vaccine and the recommended swab at Christmas even with 3 doses

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December 22, 2021 The green light from AIFA, the Italian drug agency, has arrived for the new protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid (Novavax), after the OK in recent days by Ema, the European agency . It is indicated for the over 18s - so Aifa in a note - and the vaccination involves a primary course of two doses, three weeks apart. According to the agency, the studies would have shown an "effectiveness of about 90% in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 disease, even in the population over the age of 64".  

It is based on a different technology than those authorized in the EU against Covid-19 so far, that of "recombinant proteins": the technique already in use for some decades on other diseases such as meningitis, hepatitis b and papilloma virus: it was tested - according to the manufacturing company - on over 45,000 people. 

According to the Aifa Technical-Scientific Commission, "the safety profile was positive, with mainly local adverse reactions". It will be used in the administration as a primary cycle and "not - says the Agency - as a booster, that is, not for the next booster". 

According to the president of the Italian drug agency, Giorgio Palù, it is "another powerful weapon to fight Covid, produced with a different technology, with an advantage over mRna vaccines: since it does not need the chain of the cold ". 

"It will be distributed in one and a half billion doses - with the Covax system - in developing countries: important because there is a global need for vaccines and the virus replicates especially in countries without protections ", explained Palù.