BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Commission and the German government said on Monday they expect deliveries of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid to begin over the course of this week.
Novavax’s recombinant protein vaccine uses a more established technology than mRNA, the novel method behind the two most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines in Germany made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.
“We assume that over the coming week … vaccinations can begin in the federal states,” a spokesperson for the German health ministry told a regular government news conference.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said deliveries were expected to start this week.
The Novavax vaccine was initially planned to be available in January, but has faced regulatory delays.
EU countries have ordered 27 million doses for the first quarter of this year, of a contract for 100 million vaccines and another 100 million optional.
Public health leaders have voiced hopes Novavax’s product could convince as-yet unvaccinated people who are sceptical about the novel mRNA technology to get a shot.
(Writing by Paul Carrel and Kirsti Knolle; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Alexander Smith)
