The UK has just approved Nuvaxovid, a new vaccine against the coronavirus, developed the American Novavax company. It is the fifth medicine against the Covid-19 that has been validated by the MHRA. 

The Nuvaxovid showed a nearly 90 per cent effectiveness in countering the symptomatic form of various coronavirus variants (the “original” Wuhan one, Alpha, Omicron, …) during clinical trials.  

According to Novavax and the WHO, the freshly approved medicine has already been used for several years to protect against different illnesses, which is not the case for other Covid vaccines that have been accepted so far in the UK (AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna, and Janssen). 

The American company argues that Nuvaxovid stimulates the immune system and helps it to produce T cells as well as antibodies. 

In August 2020, the British government placed an order for the purchase of 60 million doses of Nuvaxovid and could implement its administration in the following weeks. 

Nevertheless, this scenario remains hypothetical given the fact that despite having been approved several months ago, the latter is still not in use in the UK. What’s more, the general interest in vaccinations has decreased significantly since the end of last year. 

So far, 138.3 million vaccine doses have been administered across the UK, from which 37.4 million are so-called booster doses. Over 65 per cent of Brits aged 12 or over have already received such a booster dose. 

Cover photo: Unsplash

Author: Sébastien Meuwissen