Frederick County Health Department to start offering Novavax vaccine

Angela Roberts, The Frederick News-Post, Md.
·3 min read
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Aug. 2—The Frederick County Health Department on Wednesday will start offering the two-dose, protein-based Novavax COVID-19 vaccine to adults not yet vaccinated against the virus.

Health department employees will offer doses of the new vaccine every Wednesday in Frederick at 585 Himes Ave., department spokeswoman Rissah Watkins said. The Health Department will update the community if it starts offering Gaithersburg-based Novavax's vaccine elsewhere in the county, she added.

To clarify, Watkins said, the Novavax vaccine is not a booster for the omicron variant of COVID-19, although one is being developed. It's also not a booster shot for already-approved vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna.

As of Monday, about 90% of Frederick County residents had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means about 10% of county residents would be eligible for a Novavax vaccine.

Just under 80% of residents were fully vaccinated as of Monday, making Frederick County the third most vaccinated jurisdiction in Maryland.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Novavax vaccine for emergency use on July 13 for people 18 and older. The CDC recommended it for the same population about a week later.

Like the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Novavax is delivered in a two-dose series. People should get their second shot at least three weeks after getting their first.

But unlike the two vaccines, which use the genetic material mRNA to protect people from COVID-19, Novavax uses protein.

Watkins is hopeful the difference may encourage previously vaccine-wary people to reconsider their position.

Although mRNA vaccines have been around for a while, she said, people may be more familiar with protein-based immunizations used for decades to protect against diseases like hepatitis B and influenza.

Earlier in the pandemic, the Health Department heard from people who had misconceptions or fear around what it meant that the Pfizer and Moderna shots were mRNA-based, Watkins said.

Some local residents indicated on social media that they were hesitant to get an mRNA vaccine, but they'd consider other options.

"This is that other option," Watkins said.

The Novavax vaccine may also assuage the concerns of people who didn't want to get vaccinated because of a remote connection certain COVID-19 shots have to abortion.

The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines do not contain fetal cells. But fetal cell lines — cells grown in a laboratory and based on aborted fetal cells collected decades ago — were used in testing during the development of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, and during the production of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The Vatican has said it is "morally acceptable" for Catholics to receive a vaccine developed or tested using the cell lines when alternative vaccines are not available. Pope Francis and Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI received the Pfizer vaccine.

But Novavax has said no human fetal-derived cell lines or tissue were used in developing, manufacturing or producing the company's vaccine.

At the Health Department's most recent COVID-19 vaccine clinics, staff members administered far more booster shots than first doses to adults, Watkins said.

Nurses didn't give any first shots to adults at the clinic on Thursday in Brunswick and only gave out three first doses to adults at Wednesday's clinic at Himes Avenue, she said.

All shots offered at the Health Department clinics are free and none require insurance, Watkins said.

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