How new vaccine could be available to Aussies in January 2022

A new brand of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to hit Aussie shores within a month as the nation continues to combat the Omicron variant.

Health Minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday said the Novavax vaccine would hopefully be available in January 2022.

“Novak‘s has been is going through the Therapeutic Goods Administration, our medical regulator,” Mr Hunt told 4BC.

“They’re getting the data and I’m hopeful that subject to that data stacking up, that this will be available in January.”

Australia has already ordered 51 million doses of the new protein-based vaccine.

The Health Minister’s prediction comes less than a day after the European Medicines Agency announced Novavax was approved for use in EU residents over the age of 18.

Novavax has proven to be highly effective against COVID-19 with the vaccine manufacturer stating that clinical trials have shown it is 90 per cent effective against symptomatic infection and 100 per cent against moderate and severe disease.

However, there is limited data on the effectiveness of the new vaccine against Omicron at this stage.

Novavax CEO Stanley Erck said the company was confident their vaccine would still provide strong protection from the new strain.

“Our expectation based upon what we saw with Alpha, Beta and Delta is that we’ll have a robust, protective level of antibodies with Omicron just as we have with the others,” Mr Erck told Bloomberg News.

“In addition, we’re making a new vaccine variant, an Omicron strain variant.”

Although Novavax differs from mRNA (Pfizer and Moderna) and Vector (AstraZeneca) vaccines in its chemical makeup, the jab’s side effects are very similar.

Injection site tenderness, fatigue, headache, and muscle pain are the most common symptoms experienced after receiving the protein adjuvant vaccine.

Similar to Pfizer, Novavax is to be administered in two doses at three weeks apart.

Mr Eryk said the new vaccine was also highly suitable for use as a booster shot.

“We’ve shown that the vaccine boosts very effectively,” he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of boosting going on, particularly with Omicron, and we think our vaccine is prime for that.”