WHO approves Indian COVID-19 vaccine CovavaxTM

The World Health Organization has approved the CovavaxTM coronavirus vaccine, which is manufactured by the Indian Serum Institute under license from the American company Novavax. informs Associated Press.

The drug consists of two components. It became the ninth approved by the organization for emergency use. CovavaxTM is a protein vaccine created using the old vaccine technology, but using insect cells. It does not require a very low temperature industrial refrigerator to store it. It is assumed that the vaccine will be supplied to poor countries. According to the assistant to the head of WHO on access to medicines Marianjela Simao, 41 countries in the world have not yet been able to vaccinate even 10% of their population, and in 98 countries the vaccination rate has not reached 40%.

The UN, through the Covax program, plans to deliver about 1.35 billion doses of Novavax vaccine, produced at the Serum Institute, to poor countries. The company has already received an emergency use authorization for the drug in Indonesia and the Philippines. Also, applications have been submitted to the European and British regulators. Novavax plans to apply in the US as well.

In the summer, Novavax announced that a study in which 30,000 people from the United States and Mexico took part showed that the vaccine was 90% effective. Similar results were obtained in a study in which 15,000 Britons participated. Subsequent trials showed that a booster dose, administered six months after the second vaccination, increased the amount of antibodies needed to counteract the delta strain of the coronavirus. At the moment, studies are being carried out to show the effectiveness of the vaccine against the omicron strain.