Novavax, a biotech firm based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, has been granted emergency FDA authorization for its version of a COVID-19 vaccine 鈥� and local officials hope it will encourage more people to get boosted against the latest COVID-19 variants.
At his weekly briefing with reporters, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said the Novavax vaccine is a protein-based vaccine, as opposed to the mRNA vaccines already on the market.
Noting concerns that some had about the speed with which the mRNA vaccines were developed, Elrich said, 鈥淭his gives that group the opportunity to get a vaccine that they otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have taken.鈥�
Elrich introduced Silvia Taylor, the executive vice president of Novavax, who told reporters, 鈥淥ur next step is 鈥� now that we鈥檙e authorized and we have the recommendation from the CDC 鈥� we begin shipping in a matter of days鈥� to outlets across the country.
During the online briefing, Sean O鈥橠onnell, the Montgomery County Health and Human Services public health emergency preparedness manager, said the COVID-19 community level status remains at the 鈥渓ow鈥� level 鈥� with 28.3 cases per 100,000 residents over the last seven days.
O鈥橠onnell urged the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and addressed what鈥檚 been characterized as an uneven rollout of the updated versions of existing vaccines from Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna.
鈥淗ave some patience,” O’Donnell said. “I know it can take a little while for this rollout to happen, but there should be vaccines for everyone, and we encourage people to get their shots before they start doing family gatherings.”
Elrich told reporters, 鈥淭he important thing is, you get vaccinated, you keep yourself safe and you keep the people around you safe.鈥�
