NEW NOVAVAX VACCINE FOR COVID-19 IS NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR REGION

By Miriam Raftery

August 17, 2022 (San Diego) - The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the Novavax vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. The new Novavax vaccine is now available in San Diego County.

The Novavax vaccine is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine authorized for use in the U.S. and the first to use a protein-based approach commonly used in other vaccines.

Officials hope that the traditional vaccine design is attractive to those who have been wary of the newer mRNA technology. The shot may also be particularly useful in vaccinating individuals with known allergies to the mRNA vaccines.

You can get Novavax at local healthcare providers, retail pharmacies, and community clinics, as well as County public health centers and community vaccination events. You can make an appointment or find a walk-in clinic here.

Novavax has been authorized as a two-dose primary series, given three to eight weeks apart, to people ages 18 and older. Clinical trials showed that the vaccine series is 90% effective at preventing mild, moderate and severe COVID-19. Those trials were done prior to the Omicron variant, however.

The CDC recently announced that unvaccinated individuals are 96% more likely to die of COVID-19 than people who are fully vaccinated, and received two booster shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines already on the market. Unvaccinated people are also four times more likely to die of COVID than those who are fully vaccinated, but haven’t yet had booster shots.

Everyone 6 months and older can get COVID-19 vaccines at no cost. For those who received an mRNA vaccine, boosters are available for people 5 years and older. Parental consent is required for all eligible minors to be vaccinated.

A new vaccine is in the works that will aim to target newer variants, but federal health officials advise the public not to wait on the new vaccine, since COVID remains rampant and existing vaccines provide strong protection against death or severe COVID, though many vaccinated people have contracted mild cases of COVID in recent weeks.