CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., signed a decision memo that Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine be used as another primary series option for adolescents ages 12 through 17.
This recommendation follows FDA’s authorization to authorize the vaccine for this age group under emergency use. Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, which is available now, is an important tool in the pandemic and provides a more familiar type of COVID-19 vaccine technology for adolescents. Having multiple types of vaccines offers more options and flexibility for the public, jurisdictions, and vaccine providers.
Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine packages harmless proteins of the COVID-19 virus alongside another ingredient called an adjuvant that helps the immune system respond to the virus in the future. Vaccines—like the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine—that use protein subunit technology have been used for more than 30 years in the United States, beginning with the first licensed hepatitis B vaccine. Other protein subunit vaccines used in the United States today include those to protect against influenza and whooping cough (acellular pertussis).
