Will Novavax Make Up for Southeast Asia’s Vaccine Shortfall?

After a long rollout hindered by production delays, the Novavax vaccine has been approved for emergency use in Indonesia and the Philippines, with an aim toward gaining wider authorization early next year.

The Maryland-based Novavax, along with its partner, the Serum Institute of India, will now roll out its protein-based vaccines in the two populous Asian island nations, both of which were decimated by waves of COVID-19 earlier this year and have struggled to return to social and economic normalcy.

It was just months ago that Novavax was being touted as a potential savior for the Global South, which has faced vaccine shortfalls due to hoarding by rich Western countries that have placed large orders, knocking the rest of the world to the bottom of the production queue.

The shot was shown to be more than 90 percent effective in a U.S.-based trial, including against a number of concerning variants. Novavax doses can be produced by the Serum Institute for a far lower price than inoculations by Pfizer and Moderna, making them attainable for developing countries.

Novavax and the Serum Institute committed together to donate more than 1.1 billion doses to the World Health Organization’s COVAX initiative, which distributes vaccines to populations in need. Novavax is still seeking an emergency use authorization from the WHO.

But production slowdowns and quality problems have kept Novavax vaccines from reaching populations in need, even after the company received $1.75 billion from the U.S. government. In August, Novavax said the government would not pay for further production until the company resolved regulator concerns over the quality of its vaccines.

Novavax has yet to receive emergency use authorization in India, and it has delayed filing for authorization in the United States.

Indonesia will receive its first batch of 20 million Novavax vaccines after India allowed the export of the Serum Institute-produced shots, which the institute calls Covovax. The Serum Institute has said it can produce up to 100 million Covovax shots by the end of the year.

Indonesia has been one of the world’s hardest-hit countries during the pandemic. According to government data, nearly 150,000 people have died of the coronavirus. It has now vaccinated about 30 percent of its population. Indonesia President Joko Widodo recently urged rich countries to share their vaccines with poorer ones, saying their efforts to donate vaccines thus far are “not enough.”

The Philippines has inoculated about one-third of its vaccine eligible population and has dramatically increased its vaccination rate in recent weeks. In mid-November, the country’s daily vaccination rate eclipsed 1 million twice in the same week.

India, which has yet to approve the Novavax vaccine, has fully vaccinated around 30 percent of its own population.

Booster shots are not yet available to the vast majority of people in Asia, although some rich Asians have managed to jump the queue despite vaccine shortages. As more Western countries begin to roll out booster shots, an influx of Novavax doses could potentially help poorer Asian countries keep pace with wealthier nations.