Indonesia is the first country to approve the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine

Indonesia has granted the world's first emergency use authorization for Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, which employs a different technology than current vaccines.

Novavax, a biotechnology company, announced Monday that Indonesia has approved its COVID-19 vaccine, which uses a different technology than current doses, the world's first emergency use authorization.

The vaccine is easier to store and carry than conventional vaccines, which means it could help poorer countries throughout the world supplement their supplies.

The two-dose Novavax vaccine is manufactured from lab-grown copies of the coronavirus spike protein.
That's in contrast to Pfizer and Moderna's commonly used mRNA vaccines, which transmit genetic instructions for the body to manufacture its own spike protein.

The vaccine's emergency approval is a "very critical milestone" for Indonesia's COVID-19 vaccination programme, according to Indonesian epidemiologist Dicky Budiman.

"In a nation like Indonesia, where we have many islands, this vaccine will be lot easier to carry, store, and distribute," he said.

If the vaccine's rollout is effective, Budiman believes it will be approved and used in other developing countries.

In many nations, including Indonesia, the need for additional immunizations remains crucial.

Novavax, based in the United States, said in June that the vaccine has been found to be 90 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in a study involving over 30,000 persons in the United States and Mexico.
It also worked against variations that were circulating at the time in those countries, according to the report.

Tenderness at the injection site, headache, aches and pains, and exhaustion, according to the manufacturer, were mild adverse effects.

It said in October that it planned to "achieve a capacity of 150 million doses per month by the end of the fourth quarter" through partnerships with Serum Institute of India, SK Bioscience in South Korea, and Takeda in Japan, among others, to address concerns that vaccine production had slowed due to a lack of raw materials and other issues.

Novavax said it has already filed for authorization of the vaccine in the United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia, India and the Philippines.

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