Vaccine can make important contribution to pandemic control but I do not advise anyone to remain unvaccinated for the next few weeks because waiting for Novavax

The American company Novavax, which also produces in Europe, for example in Sweden and the Czech Republic, has just applied to the European Medicines Agency for marketing authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine. This step had been long expected, as Novavax had already published good clinical trial results in the spring. Unfortunately, the company was not able to ensure the necessary quality of the vaccine in its production facilities, so it kept postponing the marketing authorisation application.

The fact that the application has now been submitted is seen as a good sign. the health policy spokesperson of the largest group in the European Parliament (EPP - Christian Democrats) MEP Peter Liese said: "I have been in intensive contact with the company since the beginning of this year and had hoped for a much earlier submission of the application. The fact that there were delays is not due to the hurdles in the European Union, but to the difficulties that the company itself had. The Novavax vaccine can make an important contribution to pandemic control, but I do not recommend anyone to let the weeks pass between the current application and the final authorisation without being vaccinated. With the already approved vaccines, especially the mRNA vaccines, we know that they work very well and that the side effects are very rare, but with the Novavax vaccine we only know the clinical trial results so far and not, as with the mRNA vaccines, experience with billions of vaccinated people around the world. Therefore, people should not be confused and get vaccinated with the approved vaccine as soon as possible and also have the third vaccination administered as soon as possible," said the doctor and MEP.