Vaccine against coronavirus: slow seller Novavax

The Novavax vaccine should actually convince skeptics. But the demand for the protein-based vaccine is low. How can that be?

Just four weeks ago, doctors were wondering: would several 100,000 doses of Novavax’s new vaccine be enough to cover demand? After all, many people who were skeptical about the previous corona vaccines from BioNTech or Moderna based on mRNA technology had still waited. Perhaps a “classic” vaccine would convince them – so the assumption.

But now disillusionment is setting in: The run on the protein-based vaccine Nuvaxovid is not coming. Baden-Württemberg, one of the countries with a larger proportion of unvaccinated people, received almost 200,000 units from the manufacturer Novavax. In the first few days, however, only a few thousand people were vaccinated with it.

Most recently, there were just a little more than 4,000 people in total (40,000 nationwide) in the south-western state who had received such a vaccination – and that with millions of people still having insufficient vaccination protection: According to the Robert Koch Institute’s vaccination rate monitoring, only around 7 .7 million of the eleven million people in Baden-Württemberg have a second vaccination, that is around three quarters of the population.

Healthcare workers in focus

First of all, healthcare workers in particular should be supplied with the new vaccine. After all, vaccination is compulsory here. But even there, Novavax “did not bring the hoped-for effect of closing the vaccination gap,” according to the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is responsible for health in Baden-Württemberg. Efforts would therefore continue to promote vaccination.

Slow pace of vaccination

At the Klinikum Stuttgart, around 50 people are treated with the new vaccine every day. The offer there is not only intended for the employees, but for everyone.

With the already high vaccination rate among employees, Novavax “made a small contribution,” says the CEO of the largest clinic in Baden-Württemberg, Jan Steffen Jürgensen. The vaccinations with the new preparation are currently mainly initial vaccinations and isolated booster vaccinations of people who have had side effects with the other vaccines. Overall, however, the pace of vaccination is slowing down.

Only a few pharmacies offer vaccinations

Pharmacies have also started to vaccinate with Novavax. Since February, pharmacies in Baden-Württemberg have generally been allowed to vaccinate against the corona virus, but they need separate rooms and specially trained staff for this. In the Stuttgart region, only a few pharmacies offer vaccinations at all, and not a single one in the city center of the state capital, according to an overview by the State Chamber of Pharmacists.

With the additional vaccine from Novavax, pharmacies there will start on March 21 at the earliest. However, according to information from the State Pharmacists’ Association, it is not often asked for. General practitioners and company doctors can only now order the vaccine.

How is the vaccination rate supposed to be increased so that the next pandemic wave or the one after that does not bring another critical corona situation and possibly new restrictions as a result, for which the public’s understanding is increasingly dwindling?

Big differences in the countries

There is a clear gradient in Germany, with higher vaccination rates in the north and west and comparatively low in the east and south of the country. According to the RKI overview, 80.6 percent of people in Schleswig-Holstein have basic immunization and 71.2 percent have had a booster vaccination. In Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, only 74.6 and 74 percent are basic immunized and 55.6 and 56.6 percent are boosted (as of March 18).

The Ministry of Social Affairs in Stuttgart wants to continue to appeal to the unvaccinated to do their part: “We must succeed in doing this by autumn. Otherwise we will be heading for a third Corona winter – that must be clear to all unvaccinated people. We therefore continue to call on all unvaccinated people to get vaccinated to protect yourself and those around you.”

“Hong Kong should be a warning to us”

The virologist Sandra Ciesek warns in the face of millions of people over 60 who are still unvaccinated: “You can see how important it was for us to prioritize vaccinations because it protects against a serious course,” says the director of virology at the University Hospital Frankfurt am Main in the current edition of the Corona Podcast des NDR.

A look at other regions reinforces her opinion: “Hong Kong should be a warning to us that omicron is not harmless if you are not immunized, especially at this age.” There are currently more deaths in the older population group there, presumably due to outbreaks in homes with insufficient vaccination rates among the elderly.

Fortunately, the vaccine from Novavax can be kept for several months with simple cooling: according to information from the Standing Vaccination Committee, up to nine months at two to eight degrees Celsius. The handling of this serum should be easier than with other corona vaccines because no transport in freezer boxes is necessary. Depending on the production date, it could therefore last until summer or autumn.