The European Union’s drugs regulator gave the green light Monday to a fifth Covid-19 vaccine for use in the 27-nation bloc, granting conditional marketing authorization to the two-dose vaccine made by US biotech company Novavax.
The European Medicines Agency decision to recommend granting conditional marketing authorization for the vaccine for people aged 18 and over, which must be confirmed by the EU’s executive commission, comes as many European nations are battling surges in infections and amid concerns about the spread of the new omicron variant.
Novavax says it currently is testing how its shots will hold up against the omicron variant, and like other manufacturers has begun formulating an updated version to better match that variant in case in case it’s eventually needed.
The Novavax shot joins those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca in the EU’s vaccine armory. The EU has ordered up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine with an option for 100 million more.
Last week, the World Health Organization gave emergency approval to the Novavax vaccine, paving the way for its inclusion in the U.N.-backed program to get such vaccines to poorer countries around the world.
The EMA said that it’s human medicines committee concluded by consensus “that the data on the vaccine were robust and met the EU criteria for efficacy, safety and quality.”
COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the coronavirus by spotting the spike protein that coats it, but the Novavax option is made very differently than the most widely used shots.