Altogether, Novavax has said it plans to deliver 2 billion doses of Nuvaxovid during 2022. As the vaccine has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), initial supply efforts have been focused on Europe and the Philippines and Indonesia.

First doses were due to arrive in Europe in February, but reports at the time said only a fraction of the promised volume had been delivered. As of the final week of March, however, the supply situation appeared to have improved, with around 47 million doses already rolled out, mostly in Germany and Italy. Another 55 million are expected in the near future, according to Germany’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

The flip side of the more encouraging delivery figures is that, going into April, only around 100,000 Novavax doses had been administered in the aforementioned countries, where hopes were high that hard-core holdouts could be won over – despite many predictions that they wouldn’t.

Such a sluggish uptake “could suggest limited real-world adoption,” analysts for Jeffries wrote, without having to do much sleuthing. Some of the Novavax doses supposedly were used for boosters, though they represented only a small share, rather than administered to the unvaccinated as intended.

Vaccine uptake sluggish in 2022 altogether

Apart from boosters, European Covid vaccine uptake so far this year has been sluggish altogether, even amid a rising number of infections. More than 85% of adults in the 27-member EU had received at least one dose by late March, nearly two-thirds had also had a booster, but tens of millions remained unvaccinated, figures published by the Reuters news agency suggested.

In Germany, the vaccination numbers have run below the EU average for some time, and in March were mostly flat. In the month’s last week, 76.8% had received one dose, and 74.5% were “full vaccinated,” whereby 56.4% of the latter category had received a booster.

Despite some disappointment about the current numbers, especially as the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based biotech had touted its protein-based shot as attracting the vaccine-hesitant, a Novavax spokesperson told Fierce Pharma Marketing it believes it can still achieve the $4 - $5 billion in sales guidance it forecast for its Nuvaxovid in 2022 and “make the shot work in Europe.

“With nearly 30% of the EU population still unvaccinated against Covid-19, we believe there is a significant need for a protein-based vaccine option in Europe, and we are excited about the progress that is underway in vaccination with Nuvaxovid,” the spokesperson added. He cautioned, however, that the war in Ukraine could have a negative effect.

Meanwhile, Novavax has started an educational campaign to share information on “vaccine choices.” This could be a workaround that would compensate for the situation that in most European countries, advertising for ethical drugs is prohibited, and in the US the company can’t advertise for a product not yet approved.

In its home market, the vaccine maker hopes for a rapid recommendation by the FDA advisory panel, which is expected to convene in the next several weeks. Novavax applied for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) at the end of January. As the health agency has been silent up to now, analysts are starting to turn sour on the company that has never had a commercial product.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist