Corona vaccine
Novavax: Opponents see their salvation in dead vaccines. And succumb to an error
Ampoules with vaccine, in this case from Pfizer and Biontech.
© Xander Heinl / Picture Alliance
The first dead vaccine against the coronavirus could be approved in the EU this year. But does Novavax’s vaccine candidate deliver what many hope it will deliver? An overview of a vaccine that above all comes up with good marketing.
Millions of people in Germany are still not immunized against the corona virus. Some do not want to have an injection in the future either, others are still unsure. Many just wait and see. To the fact that the pandemic will pass, but also to the dead vaccines, which are very popular with vaccine skeptics. Two candidates are already in the starting blocks, one could even receive approval this year – Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) from Novavax. But does the vaccine keep what vaccine skeptics expect from it? An overview.
How does Novavax differ from vaccines that have already been approved?
Vector, mRNA, dead vaccine – not all vaccines are created equal. They are based on quite different technologies. The vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna contain a so-called “messenger RNA” (mRNA), which provides the body with the blueprint for a virus protein. The vector vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and Astrazeneca, on the other hand, contain genetic information about the virus in vectors, i.e. harmless carrier viruses. The vaccine candidates from Novavax and Valneva (more about Valneva) are known as dead vaccines, which consist of either constituents of the pathogen or inactivated pathogens and are provided with a potentiator.
Looking more closely, however, the vaccine candidate Nuvaxovid is a protein vaccine that is produced using genetic engineering methods and contains the active enhancer Matrix-M. Florian Krammer, who is also a professor of vaccines, recently announced his displeasure in a Twitter post. He wrote, “Can you please stop calling Novavax’s vaccine a dead vaccine? It’s a recombinant protein vaccine.”
Is Novavax more dead vaccine than Biontech and Co?
Many people who are undecided about vaccination find dead vaccines attractive because they are classified as classic vaccines. They have been used for many years, for example against hepatitis B and flu. So-called dead vaccines only contain – the name suggests – killed viruses and cannot cause any disease. But: This also applies to mRNA and vector vaccines, explains the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). And: “The COVID-19 vaccines do not contain any viruses that can replicate. In this respect, they can be used with dead vaccines equated will.”
“Because so many unvaccinated people only want dead vaccine, for whatever reason, Novavax available soon will be referred to as such,” said Karl Lauterbach, who was not yet Federal Minister of Health at the time, then attempted an explanation on Krammer’s post.
What is known about the effectiveness of Novavax?
A study with around 30,000 test subjects was published in the summer, which is optimistic. Accordingly, the vaccine from Novavax was very effective with an effectiveness of 90 percent and thus about as good as the mRNA vaccines from Biontech / Pfizer and Moderna.
Another study with another 15,000 participants, which was carried out in Great Britain, came to a similar result. However, both studies were carried out before the delta variant became the predominant one and thus also before Omikron emerged. It is now known that a booster vaccination is necessary for a good antibody level against Delta. The company is currently investigating to what extent the vaccine is also effective against this variant.
Is it worth waiting for Novavax and Valneva?
The answer is simple: no. The already approved corona vaccines have now been administered more than eight billion times around the globe and are therefore extremely well monitored. Common side effects are now known. In addition, “serious safety problems” are “extremely rare” according to the European Medicines Agency (Ema) in Brussels. If further side effects of the vaccination become known, these will occur extremely rarely.
One argument from vaccine skeptics persists: the lack of long-term studies. However, the immunologist Carsten Watzl explained in a Twitter thread that this is a misunderstanding when the debate about professional footballer Joshua Kimmich boiled up. So-called long-term consequences of vaccinations are not health consequences that appear for the first time months or years after the vaccination. These are rare side effects that occur within a few weeks after vaccination. Often, however, these are only associated with the vaccination after a long period of time. At the time, he told the “DPA” about the fear of alleged long-term vaccination consequences: “That doesn’t exist, has never happened before and will not occur with the Covid-19 vaccination either”.
When can Novavax be expected to be approved?
In some countries, dead vaccines against the coronavirus are already being used, for example in China. Approval in the EU is still pending, but it is possible that a decision will be made this year, as announced by Marco Cavaleri, Director of Vaccination Strategy at Ema. Novavax had already submitted a corresponding application for the vaccine candidate Nuvaxovid to Ema in mid-November, and it has been examined on the basis of the approval study since then. According to Ema, the competing product from the French manufacturer Valneva should also be tested more quickly.
Source: RKI, Novavax, Study (1), Study (2),