WHO issues emergency use listing to Novavax-Serum Institute's Covid vaccine

'This is yet another milestone in our fight against Covid-19, Covovax is now WHO approved for emergency use, showing excellent safety and efficacy,' tweets Serum CEO

The World Health Organization on Friday issued an emergency use listing to Covovax, Serum Institute of India's version of Novavax Inc's COVID-19 vaccine.

The agency said that Novovax's own vaccine is currently under assessment by the European Medicines Agency, and it will complete its own assessment of this vaccine once the EMA has issued its recommendation.

“Even with new variants emerging, vaccines remain one of the most effective tools to protect people against serious illness and death from SARS-COV-2,” said Dr Mariângela Simão, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Medicines and Health Products. "This listing aims to increase access particularly in lower-income countries, 41 of which have still not been able to vaccinate 10% of their populations, while 98 countries have not reached 40%.”

Covovax is a subunit of the vaccine developed by Novavax and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). It requires two doses and is stable at 2 to 8 °C refrigerated temperatures. The vaccine uses a novel platform and is produced by creating an engineered baculovirus containing a gene for a modified SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The originator product produced by Novavax, named Nuvaxovid, is currently under assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). WHO will complete its own assessment of this vaccine once the EMA has issued its recommendation.

A meeting of WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) this week also reviewed the vaccine.