The company wants to apply for emergency deployment of the vaccine to the general public in the United States, the European Union and elsewhere in the world by the end of September.
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Part of this vaccine, which is also included in the Czech vaccination strategy, should be produced at the plant near Jevan near Prague.
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Although the demand for vaccines in the US and the EU is declining with the advancement of vaccinations with already approved substances, there is still a major shortage of doses elsewhere. The preparation of Novavax is attracted a great deal of attention by experts, especially due to its use in less developed countries, because it does not have to be stored in too demanding conditions and is therefore simply also transported.
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However, the substance will reach a wider population in a few months at the earliest. The company wants to apply for emergency approval of the product by the end of September, while by that it plans to produce about 100 million doses.
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Vaccines for poorer countries
“Many of our first benefits will go to low- and middle-income countries, which was the goal we started with,” Stanley Erck, the company’s chief executive, told AP. While in the United States more than half of the entire population has received one dose, in the developing world it is about one percent.
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Novavax studied the effectiveness of the substance in a sample of about 30,000 people over the age of 18 in the United States and Mexico. Two-thirds received two doses of the vaccine over a three-week period, and the remaining third received an inactive substance, called a placebo. Covid-19 affected a total of 77 people in the test sample – 14 of them were in the vaccinated group and the rest in the other who received placebo. While no one developed severe symptoms of covid-19 among those vaccinated, they affected 14 people in the non-immunized group.
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The vaccine worked with a similar effect against several dreaded variants of coronavirus, including the one that was first discovered in Britain and which now predominates in many places. According to the company, it has also proven its effectiveness in the elderly or in people who have chronic health problems.
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The researchers noticed only mild side effects, mainly sensitivity or pain at the injection site. No cases of unusual blood clots or heart problems have been reported, Erck said. However, the results have not yet been published in an independent professional journal and have not undergone a review procedure.
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Other principle than Pfizer or AstraZeneca
The Novavax vaccine works on a different principle than the Pfizer / BioNTech or AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson substances and uses technology already used, for example, in influenza or cervical cancer vaccines. The preparation is stable between two and eight degrees Celsius and can therefore be stored in conventional refrigerators.
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Novavax has been around for more than 30 years, but has not yet launched any vaccine. She is working with the US government on anti-covid-19 to commit 110 million doses to the US and 1.1 billion injections into the developing world by the end of next year.
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