Nuvaxovid

Nuvaxovid should be available at certain provider's offices and pharmacies. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about whether they offer the Novavax vaccine or where you can find the vaccine and schedule an appointment.

No, Nuvaxovid isn't a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. Instead, the Novavax vaccine is a type of vaccine called a recombinant vaccine and is protein-based. It contains a modified, harmless version of a part of the COVID-19 virus called a spike protein. mRNA vaccines — like Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech) and Spikevax (Moderna) COVID vaccines — contain genetic material (mRNA) made in the lab that teaches your body to make a specific protein (in this case, the spike protein). The two types of vaccines use different technology. But the overall goal is the same: to help protect you from COVID-19 infection by getting your immune system to make antibodies against this protein and fight against the virus.

If you haven't gotten any COVID-19 vaccines before, you should get fully vaccinated against the virus with the same manufacturer of the COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or Novavax). Getting fully vaccinated will take 1 to 3 injections (doses), depending on the manufacturer and your age. Once you're fully vaccinated, you can get any of the three COVID-19 vaccines available as your booster or additional dose; this is called "mixing and matching." To make sure you're up to date with COVID-19 vaccination, ask your provider or pharmacist about whether you need to get another COVID-19 vaccine dose and when you should get it or check out the CDC-recommended dosing schedule.

Yes, Nuvaxovid has an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for its use as a booster for COVID-19. As the name suggests, a booster shot "boosts" or wakes up your immune system to make protection against the virus stronger. It's important to get a booster shot for COVID-19 because protection against the virus can lessen over time.

Nuvaxovid isn't FDA approved yet. But it received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for its use to protect against COVID-19 infection. The EUA allows unapproved vaccines like Novavax to be used during a public health emergency. Rest assured, the FDA reviews data from ongoing or final clinical studies to make sure that the Novavax vaccine works well enough and is safe enough to use.

Studies show that all the currently available COVID-19 vaccines (including the Nuvaxovid) can protect against severe illness and death from COVID-19. But the COVID-19 vaccines might not offer the same level of protection against all variants of the virus. As new variants and subvariants appear, more research will be done to understand how effective the Nuvaxovid will be against them. The manufacturer (Novavax) might slightly change and update the vaccine to help better target and provide protection against the specific variants or subvariants that cause most of the COVID-19 infections in the U.S. as time goes on. Talk to your healthcare provider or visit the CDC's COVID data tracker for the latest on how effective the COVID-19 vaccines are.

The CDC and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommend that you should get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and stay up to date with booster shots if you're pregnant. You're at higher risk of getting very sick from COVID-19 if you get infected while you're pregnant. Recombinant vaccines are generally considered safe in pregnancy. But more studies need to be done to know for sure whether Nuvaxovid is safe for you and your unborn baby. There's an ongoing pregnancy registry that keeps track of the health of mothers who got the Novavax vaccine during pregnancy and the health of their babies. The manufacturer (Novavax) encourages people who got its COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy to enroll in this registry by visiting the COVID-19 Vaccines International Pregnancy Exposure Registry website. Discuss with your healthcare provider if you have any concerns.