CDC advisers endorse more traditional Novavax COVID shot

U.S. adults who haven’t gotten any COVID-19 shots yet should consider a new option from Novavax -- a more traditional kind of vaccine, influential government advisers said Tuesday.

Regulators authorized the nation’s first so-called protein vaccine against COVID-19 last week, but Novavax shots cannot begin until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends how to use them.

Most Americans have gotten at least their primary COVID-19 vaccinations by now, but CDC officials said between 26 million and 37 million adults haven’t had a single dose -- the population that Novavax, for now, will be targeting.

“We really need to focus on that population,” said CDC adviser Dr. Oliver Brooks, past president of the National Medical Association. Hopefully, the vaccine “will change them over from being unvaccinated to vaccinated.”

While it’s unclear how many will be persuaded by a more conventional option, “I’m really positive about this vaccine,” agreed fellow adviser Dr. Pablo Sanchez of Ohio State University.