Yasmina Kattou and Ugo Pascolo with AFP
, modified to
2:09 p.m., January 15, 2022
The High Authority for Health (HAS) has given the green light to a fifth vaccine in France to fight against Covid-19, Nuvaxovid, developed by the American laboratory Novavax. What are its specificities? Who can benefit ? When will the first doses take place? Europe 1 goes around these questions.
A vaccine to convince the reluctant. The High Authority for Health announced on Friday that it authorized the vaccine from the American laboratory Novavax to fight against the coronavirus epidemic which is experiencing a sharp resurgence with the Omicron variant. The French will therefore soon have the choice between five vaccines. Europe 1 returns to the main questions that can be asked before the first injections, scheduled for early February.
What are the differences with other vaccines?
Unlike the product developed by the Pfizer-BioNTech laboratories, Nuvaxovid does not use the Messenger RNA technology that is so talked about among some of the non-vaccinated. Nor is it a viral vector vaccine, like AstraZeneca or Janssen. The product developed by the American laboratory uses the same technique as the vaccines against whooping cough, meningococcal meningitis and hepatitis B. In concrete terms, this so-called “subunit” product (because it carries only part of the virus and not all of it) contains the famous Covid-19 Spike protein, the one that allows it to enter human cells. It is injected there to trigger an immune response in the patient, and thus offer him protection.
Nuvaxovid is therefore a vaccine using conventional technology, and it is an asset in a generalized vaccination strategy. “There are people who do not want RNA, so it is possible that among them, a fairly limited target, some wish to be vaccinated with a product based on the usual vaccine technology”, estimates at the microphone of Europe 1 Elisabeth Bouvet, from the High Authority for Health.
Who can benefit ?
It will be reserved for adults, only for the first two doses, with three weeks apart. The HAS specifies that those over 55 can always choose to be vaccinated with Janssen, with two months between doses. In addition, the Novavax vaccine should never be used as a booster, for lack of clinical trials.
When will the first doses be injected?
The first injections should take place in early February, according to the Ministry of Health. More than one million Nuxaxovid vaccines are due to be delivered next month, and 3.2 million doses are expected over the first quarter of 2022.