Novavax registration possible: Federal state experiences crazy rush - Stiko boss makes you sit up and take notice with the announcement
Created: 01/29/2022, 15:00
By: Maximilian Kettenbach
Novavax recommendation expected: Stiko boss Thomas Mertens.
© Stefan Boness/Ipon/Imago
The first doses of the Novavax vaccine should be available in Germany by the end of February.
What's missing: The Stiko recommendation.
Now the chairman comments on the current status.
Munich – The next “helper” to push the end of the corona pandemic is ready. The chairman of the Standing Vaccination Committee (Stiko), Prof. Thomas Mertens, announced on RTL that the protein-based vaccine "Novavax" would be recommended by the end of February. "One can certainly expect a recommendation - whatever that looks like." He hopes that this will happen in time before the vaccine is available. The federal government has already ordered 3.25 million doses of Novavax and wants to make some of them available by February 21st.
Many people are eagerly awaiting the new vaccine from the US pharmaceutical company.
Including some vaccine skeptics.
Because it is the first protein-based corona vaccine.
The vaccine has already been approved in the EU and is intended to be an alternative to the previous mRNA-based vaccines from Biontech/Pfizer and Moderna.
Novavax vaccine: Stiko boss on side effects
Despite "temporary side effects" - similar to the mRNA-based vaccines - Mertens considers the vaccine to be safe: "I don't think that the vaccine poses a particular safety problem and I hope so." However, study data are still missing, he explains Mertens to RTL / ntv.
Novavax recommendation from Stiko - Possibly only for certain groups at first
For example, the effect for certain groups such as the elderly or pregnant women “cannot be properly assessed”.
Mertens did not want to specify at this point in time whether the Stiko recommendation will only apply to certain groups.
In any case, district offices are already sorting out who should get the first cans.
"This should initially be used for those people who have not yet been vaccinated and who are employed in facilities for which vaccination will be compulsory from mid-March," says Bamberg in Franconia, for example.
This applies to medical practices, hospitals or nursing services, among other things.
Novavax vaccine - experts have high hopes
In view of the omicron variant, the US pharmaceutical company Novavax announced before Christmas that "both a booster dose and an omicron-specific vaccine could be useful." Experts in this country share this.
The effectiveness of this new vaccine is around 90 percent.
According to Prof. Dr.
André Gessner, microbiologist at the University Hospital Regensburg, tells the radio station
Antenne Bayern
.
The protective function is similar to mRNA vaccines (about 95 percent).
Virologist Priv.-Doz.
dr
According to the radio station, Thomas Bollinger from the Bayreuth Clinic explains that a third vaccination is probably also necessary for Novavax, as with the mRNA vaccines.
It is still unclear how strong Novavax is against Omikron.
There is still too little data available.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is also keeping a low profile.
Epidemiologist Prof. Timo Ulrichs is now hoping that the vaccine will be approved quickly.
Novavax is something "that we urgently need now in order to go further towards 90 percent vaccination coverage".
Is Novavax an inactivated vaccine?
The Novavax vaccine contains tiny laboratory-made spike proteins of the coronavirus.
After vaccination with Nuvaxovid, the immune system forms antibodies against the protein antigen and can thus ward off Covid 19 disease.
The virus protein is grown in the laboratory, produced in insect cultures.
It does not contain any killed virus components, which are obtained directly from the corona virus.
That is why the Novavax vaccine is not one of the so-called dead vaccines, such as the Covid vaccine Valneva.
By the way: mRNA and vector vaccines do not contain any reproducible viruses and "can be equated with dead vaccines," explains the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
Before the Novavax recommendation: already a big rush in Rhineland-Palatinate
The Novavax vaccine should be available from February 21. But even before that, it is possible to register for the vaccination, which, due to the manufacturing technology, should be particularly suitable for vaccination skeptics. Rhineland-Palatinate was the first federal state to open registration on January 24th. The offer was widely accepted. In the first four days, 9139 people have already registered for vaccination with the Novavax vaccine, according to the
SWR
. Most of them, about 5000, registered in the first few hours on Monday. Overall, as many people registered for an initial vaccination in Rhineland-Palatinate within a week as in the previous three months. It is unclear whether this is due to the new vaccine.
The Ministry of Health does not expect Novavax to close the last vaccination gaps.
"Nevertheless, we are pleased if some skeptics are now willing to get the vaccination with Novavax," said Minister of Health Clemens Hoch.
Every vaccination counts.