U.S. orders 3.2 million doses of Novavax COVID vaccine

[July 12, 2022]  (Reuters) -The U.S. government will get 3.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax Inc once the shot has been authorized by the regulators, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the company said on Monday.

The shot will be made available for free in the country after it gets authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) recommendation.

Advisers to the FDA last month voted to recommend that the agency authorize the shot for use in adults.

Novavax is expected to complete all necessary quality testing in the next few weeks, which would support final release of the shots, HHS said in a statement on Monday.

The company said last month the initial doses of the vaccine will be manufactured by its partner Serum Institute of India.

Four vials with the "Nuvaxovid" COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax are pictured in Saabruecken, Germany, February 26, 2022. REUTERS/Frank Simon/File Photo

Novavax's shot, which is already available in over 40 countries, is a more traditional type of vaccine employing technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases like influenza.

Maryland-based Novavax is hoping to gain a foothold within the roughly 27 million U.S. adults who are yet to be vaccinated, particularly those who do not want to receive a vaccine like the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna Inc shots, which are based on the groundbreaking messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)

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