The Israeli Health Ministry has announced that it will now offer an alternative for those who are unable or do not wish to receive the mRNA COVID vaccine.
A new vaccine, produced by the Novavax company, will be available to patients 12 years of age and older at health clinics countrywide in the coming days.
Novavax’s protein-based technology joins the other options that are already available such as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.
Many were skeptical of the other vaccines which are based on the relatively new, mRNA techno The new option presents an alternative to the mRNA vaccines, which many were skeptical of.
The vaccine was found potent against several cases and various variants.
- It was approved by Israel’s vaccine council and health ministry, as well as by the leading global regulating bodies including the FDA, EMA, and MHRA, after those bodies studied the vaccine’s scientific data and decided that it is indeed effective against the virus.
For those who were not yet vaccinated against COVID-19, the vaccine will be administered in two doses, 21 days apart.
The Novavax vaccine can also serve as a booster for patients who received two doses of another vaccine.
- A decision regarding a third dose for patients who received two doses of Novavax will be made in the future. The vaccine may be administered to patients who suffer from immunosuppression.
At the end of August, the US military announced that the Novavax vaccine will be made available to its personnel.
- “Although all [COVID-19] vaccines teach our immune system to recognize the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Novavax is unique compared to other available COVID-19 vaccines in that it is a protein subunit vaccine,” US Air Force Col. Tonya Rans, chief of the Immunization Healthcare Division at the Defense Health Agency, explained.
“Protein subunit vaccines are a traditional platform of vaccines and have been used for decades to prevent disease. Examples of vaccines which use this platform include the current shingles [Zoster] vaccine, Hepatitis B, and [HPV] vaccine. The platform used by Novavax does not use mRNA or DNA technology and does not enter the nucleus of cells,” she added.
Source: Arutz Sheva