It’s fall, which suggests it’s time to get up to date on the winter season pictures. That features vaccines for flu, RSV (for infants and the aged) and, for anybody six months or older, COVID-19.
Whereas the brand new mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have dominated the COVID-19 vaccine story, there may be one other kind of shot that makes use of a extra conventional vaccine-making expertise, utilized by Novavax. The vaccine is producing curiosity amongst some individuals on-line preferring the extra tried and true method behind the corporate’s shot, so right here’s what it is advisable to know.
How is Novavax’s vaccine completely different from mRNA vaccines?
Novavax makes use of a protein-based vaccine technique, which suggests individuals getting the vaccine obtain a protein made by the virus that their physique’s immune techniques then see as international and mount responses in opposition to. mRNA vaccines, against this, embrace snippets of mRNA genetic materials from the COVID-19 virus’ spike protein.
Novavax makes its vaccine by first inserting the gene for a SARS-CoV-2 viral protein into an insect virus, then utilizing this loaded virus to contaminate an armyworm, or larva, of a moth that infects cabbages. Utilizing the larva, the virus then produces extra copies of itself, and by default, extra copies of the SARS-CoV-2 protein as effectively, and it’s this COVID-19 protein that’s then used within the vaccine.
Bob Walker, chief medical officer at Novavax, says this technique does a great job of mimicking the way in which the SARS-CoV-2 virus naturally infects the physique, which may theoretically result in some advantages by way of the immune response the vaccine generates, though the corporate and others are nonetheless conducting deeper research to search out out whether or not that is the case. “The assemble resembles the virus by way of how the [body’s] immune cells would possibly see it—the total size of the spike protein that represents the pure configuration of the viral protein,” he says. “And that has sure potential benefits.”
The protein is coupled with what vaccine makers name an adjuvant, or extra compound that additional prompts the immune system to reinforce the physique’s response to the virus. “One main benefit of the adjuvant is that it really works not solely on the antibody aspect by way of the immune response, however it additionally prompts the T cells,” says Walker. “And T cells have many capabilities within the physique—one is to battle viruses, and the opposite is to assist antibody-producing cells to make extra antibodies.”
Is Novavax’s vaccine authorised by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA)?
Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine will not be authorised by the FDA but, however it’s accessible within the U.S. beneath emergency use authorization, which the FDA issued to the corporate in July 2022, and permits firms to make and distribute a product throughout a public well being emergency whereas the FDA continues to evaluation a broader set of information regarding its security and efficacy. Novavax’s vaccine is protected and efficient, however the company is reviewing extra strong and long run knowledge. Novavax has filed for full approval of its COVID-19 vaccine and expects a choice from the FDA by April 2025.
Each Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna have obtained approval for adults for his or her COVID-19 vaccines, in 2021 and 2022, respectively, after first receiving emergency use authorization in 2020. Their shorter timeline was due primarily to the truth that the mRNA expertise streamlines the event and manufacturing time for the pictures. As a result of Novavax’s vaccine-making course of requires extra time, and several types of testing, Walker says it’s taken longer to finish the regulatory necessities for approval. However “with every successive season, we’re getting sooner and extra environment friendly in manufacturing our vaccines, and we predict we will shorten that distinction in time,” he says. “However I don’t know that we’ll ever surpass mRNA [technology’s timeline] simply due to the technological and testing requirement variations.”
Which vaccine supplies higher safety in opposition to COVID-19?
Research carried out by tutorial researchers over the previous few years persistently present that there are few main variations between the mRNA and Novavax vaccines by way of the immune responses they generate. Researchers usually measure this by ranges of neutralizing antibodies that the physique makes in opposition to SARS-CoV-2, which had been comparable throughout all three producers’ vaccines. Some research have additionally checked out T cell responses which additionally look like comparable among the many three pictures up to now.
Is one vaccine higher at defending in opposition to the brand new COVID-19 variants?
Over the summer season, the FDA advisable that vaccine makers goal the KP.2 pressure of SARS-CoV-2 for the upcoming fall and winter season, and research from Moderna, PfizerBioNTech, and Novavax present that every of the corporate’s up to date vaccines present sturdy safety in opposition to this pressure in addition to a few of the even newer ones which have emerged in current months. That is as a result of all the variants stay associated and are a part of the Omicron group.
I’ve heard Novavax vaccine has fewer negative effects. Is that true?
There haven’t been sufficient rigorous side-by-side comparisons of negative effects and hostile occasions between the mRNA vaccines and the Novavax shot; as an alternative every producer has offered the FDA with reviews of negative effects that every has seen in its respective research. However it seems that up to now, individuals receiving the Novavax vaccine could also be reporting fewer occasions corresponding to fever, muscle aches, and complications in comparison with these receiving both mRNA vaccine. All COVID-19 vaccines from the three producers have been linked to an elevated threat of irritation of coronary heart muscle, or pericarditis or myocarditis—a lot of the research involving the chance with Novavax’s vaccines have come from exterior of the U.S.
Which vaccine ought to I get this yr?
“One of the best vaccine is the one that’s in your arm,” says Walker. “We’re within the lucky place that we now have a number of choices, and aren’t counting on one expertise to attain very excessive ranges of safety and security. The FDA has decided that every one of those vaccines are protected and efficient.”
