the first injections of Novavax in France could begin “at the beginning of February”

This is the fifth vaccine to be approved in the European Union. The first injections in France of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax could take place “at the beginning of February”, announced Thursday, January 6 the Ministry of Health. This vaccine was approved on December 20 in the EU and its use in France is still subject to the opinion of the Haute Autorité de santé (HAS).

This opinion is awaited “in the coming days”, according to the Department of Health. According to the ministry, France must receive “3.2 million doses” of this vaccine in the first trimester, and posed an option for “3.2 million additional doses” in the second trimester. The first deliveries are expected “at the end of January” according to the ministry, but “Signals indicate that there may be delays”.

This vaccine has the particularity of not using messenger RNA technology, unlike those of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna (the only two hegemonic today in France after the gradual abandonment of those of AstraZeneca and Janssen).

Sold under the name Nuvaxovid, this vaccine manufactured by the American laboratory Novavax is a vaccine called “subunit” : it contains a component of the virus (and not the whole virus like the most classic vaccines), introduced into the body to trigger an immune response.

It is on this technique that vaccines which have existed for several decades, those against whooping cough, meningococcal meningitis and hepatitis B, are based. MRNA is brand new.

“May [ce vaccin] be a solid encouragement for the unvaccinated or those who have not been reminded! “, had thus hoped the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during its approval in the EU.