Novavax’s shot, which is already available in over 40 countries, is a more traditional type of vaccine employing technology that has been used for decades to combat diseases like influenza.
Maryland-based Novavax is hoping to gain a foothold within the roughly 27 million US adults who are yet to be vaccinated, particularly those who do not want to receive a vaccine like the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna shots based on groundbreaking messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
“We do have a problem with vaccine uptake that is very serious in the United States,” FDA official Peter Marks told the panel.
“Anything we can do to get people more comfortable to be able to accept these potentially life-saving medical products is something that we feel we are compelled to do,” he added.
However, that demand has not materialised in Europe, where Novavax also said it could drive up vaccination among the hesitant.
Around 12.6 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed in the European Union, but only around 220,000 doses of the two-shot inoculation have been administered there since it was launched in December.
A Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson noted that supply is likely to be limited in the near term.
Before shots can be administered, the FDA must authorise the vaccine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) needs to green light its use.
HHS said in a statement on Monday that it is coordinating with Novavax “to receive a limited quantity of vaccine and will make that vaccine available to the American public” once those steps are complete. A CDC panel may consider the Novavax shots late next week.
Novavax filed for US authorisation in late January, almost a year behind its original plan, following development and manufacturing problems.
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