Very good results / Because of its rather traditional process, the vaccine can help to convince vaccination sceptics and ensure high vaccination rate in autumn / Unfortunately, serious difficulties in production and therefore no short-term help


"These are very encouraging results. I believe that the vaccine, because of its rather traditional process, can help to convince sceptics and ensure a high vaccination rate in the European Union in autumn," commented the health policy spokesman of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP/Christian Democrats), Peter Liese, MD, on the publication of the results of the phase III trial of the vaccine manufacturer Novavax.

“Novavax is an American manufacturer but is also setting up production capacities in the European Union, for example in Halle/Westphalia (Germany), in Prague (Czech Republic) and in Uppsala (Sweden). The vaccine is based on rather traditional processes. It is neither an mRNA nor a vector vaccine, but a vaccine that contains only the protein of the coronavirus and thus produces a vaccine response through long-term tried and tested technologies. This may be helpful in case many people do not get vaccinated in the next few months because they are sceptical about mRNA or vector vaccines. According to the company, Novavax has an efficiency of 90% and even a protection of 100% against moderate and severe disease progression. The vaccine also works well against all new variants and was generally well tolerated," said Liese.



However, the EPP-MEP also pointed to a drop of bitterness: "Unfortunately, contrary to original plans, Novavax has not been able to set up its production capacities worldwide in recent months to an extent where we could expect the delivery of the vaccines in the short term. Apparently, they have not been able to reproduce the quality and properties of the vaccine they used in the clinical trials. Therefore, unfortunately, I do not expect Novavax to be available for the vaccination campaign in the short term. The European Commission has already signed a preliminary contract for 200 million vaccine doses in December 2020. However, the final signing of the contract has failed because Novavax has not been able to commit in any way to concrete dates and numbers of doses for vaccine deliveries. We rather do not need another manufacturer who does not deliver reliably. I hope that this problem will be solved in the next few weeks and that we will receive vaccine in autumn," said the doctor and MEP.