CDC Recommends Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Adults

CDC Recommends Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine for Adults

On Tuesday, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation that Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine be used as another primary series option for adults ages 18 years and older. Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, which will be available in the coming weeks, is an important tool in the pandemic and provides a more familiar type of COVID-19 vaccine technology for adults. Having multiple types of vaccines offers more options and flexibility for the public, jurisdictions, and vaccine providers.  

Presently, 74 Rhode Islanders are hospitalized with COVID and 3,623 have died from the disease.

This is the first approval of a vaccine in more than a year. Previously, the agency approved vaccines developed by Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Walensky said, “Today, we have expanded the options available to adults in the U.S. by recommending another safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. If you have been waiting for a COVID-19 vaccine built on a different technology than those previously available, now is the time to join the millions of Americans who have been vaccinated. With COVID-19 cases on the rise again across parts of the country, vaccination is critical to help protect against the complications of severe COVID-19 disease.”  

Protein subunit vaccines package harmless proteins of the COVID-19 virus alongside another ingredient called an adjuvant that helps the immune system respond to the virus in the future. Vaccines using protein subunits have been used for more than 30 years in the United States, beginning with the first licensed hepatitis B vaccine. Other protein subunit vaccines used in the United States today include those to protect against influenza and whooping cough (acellular pertussis).