Novavax announced on Saturday that its COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by the FDA for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
The Novavax shot is based on more conventional protein technology used for decades in hepatitis B and HPV vaccines, while Pfizer and Moderna are the first FDA-approved vaccines to use mRNA.
Novavax makes copies of the virus spike outside human cells. The genetic code for the spike is put into an insect virus that infects moth cells, which produce copies that are then purified and extracted during the manufacturing process. The finished spike copies are injected into the human body, inducing an immune response against Covid.
Novavax did not present any data on the shot's effectiveness against the variant at the FDA committee meeting in June. However, the vaccine will likely have lower effectiveness against omicron as is the case with Pfizer and Moderna's shots. Omicron is so distinct from the original strain of Covid that the antibodies produced by the vaccines have trouble recognizing and attacking the variant.
FDA authorization of Novavax's vaccines comes as the U.S. is preparing to update Covid shots to target the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants to increase protection against the virus. Novavax's vaccine, like all the other shots, is based on the original version of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China. The effectiveness of Covid vaccines against mild illness has slipped substantially as the virus has evolved, though they still generally protect against severe disease.