Yesterday, in the U.S., ABC News ran a story headlined, “FDA Advisers Vote in Favor of Authorizing Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine [21-0].” If approved, it will become the fourth EUA covid vaccine available in the US.

According to the story, the main reason the committee approved the new drug was to reach “vaccine hesitant” people who don’t want any high-tech drug. Reinforcing the point, the story describes a lot of blah-blah between committee members and presenting Novavax reps about reaching unvaccinated people.

The technology used to make the drug is not like smallpox or polio vaccines. ABC calls the drug “a more traditional protein vaccine that has been used for decades” on things like hepatitis B, shingles, and unnamed “other diseases.” The New York Times’ story explained the drug maker scrapes covid spike proteins off engineered moth cells and clumps the harvested spike into nanoparticles, or bunches, which they inject into the shoulder muscle along with an adjuvant, or immune stimulant.

The drug will come with a myocarditis warning. ABC reported that within 20 days after dosing, there were 20 cases of myocarditis among the 40,000 trial participants, mostly in young men. And Novavax did not test its drug against Omicron since the trials were completed by January.

In closing, I just want to leave you with a few things to “chew on”, first off, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave Novavax an $89 million dollar grant in 2015, yes, a while ago, but Bill just everywhere when it comes to vaccines, huh? Secondly, Novavax stock is currently trading at $47 a share, down from a 6-month peak of $217 in December and is trending downwards this week. I’m not saying either of these facts are related in any way to the approval, but just think are things you should be aware of. Now when it comes to giving “vaccine hesitant” folks a “shot in the arm” in motivating them to take the vaccine, I think it’s going to be a “hard sell.” Those who never had any interest in it in the first place, can’t see why now they would, given they’re still alive and the world as we know it didn’t end. Now for those who got the vaccine either one or two shots and have seen Omnicron go through the world like a Tsunami, I’m thinking they may be questioning the efficacy. Now for those in either the groups that got covid and have recovered, once again a hard sell. It’s not like we have the “fear of the unknown” like we did a year or two ago which drove folks to get vaccinated.

Of course there will be those who’ve not only got the first two doses but have been double boosted, to them all I can say is, “fill you boots!”