Novavax's COVID-19 Vaccine: Your Questions Answered

[Originally published: July 20, 2022. Updated: May 20, 2025.]

Note: Information in this article was accurate at the time of original publication. Because information about COVID-19 changes rapidly, we encourage you to visit the websites of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and your state and local government for the latest information.

The Novavax vaccine is one of three vaccines available in the U.S. for the prevention of COVID-19 and the only one that does not use the relatively new mRNA vaccine technology. Instead, it relies on a traditional virus-blocking technology that’s been used against other diseases.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the Novavax vaccine full approval in May 2025, but added new restrictions to the shot, which was previously available under a 2022 emergency use authorization (EUA). The FDA is now approving the vaccine for people 65 years and older, and those ages 12 through 64 who have at least one health condition that puts them at increased risk for a severe outcome from COVID.

The 2024-2025 Novavax vaccine, sold in the U.S. under the brand name Nuvaxovid™, became available in August 2024. The vaccine targets a SARS-CoV-2 variant called JN.1, which was the dominant strain in May 2024 and was surpassed by a collection of other Omicron virus strains. (But experts had predicted that updated vaccines from Novavax, Pfizer, and Moderna would likely cover other Omicron variants that might emerge in the year to follow.)

All three companies are working on updated shots for fall 2025, while advisers to the CDC are debating new recommendations the agency might make.

“A non-mRNA option is good news for many reasons,” said F. Perry Wilson, MD, a Yale Medicine nephrologist and epidemiologist, when the original Novavax vaccine was authorized. One is that this is an additional vaccine choice that may be acceptable to Americans who are not fully vaccinated, he explained. Even though the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines are safe and highly effective, “we’ve heard a lot of people say the reason they've chosen not to get an mRNA vaccine is because the mRNA technology is relatively new and it hasn't been tried on a wide scale before.”

There are practical reasons as well. “It’s ideal to have more than one or two companies being th e sole providers of vaccines,” Dr. Wilson says. “We know how supply chains can get disrupted, and we want to make sure there's adequate vaccine available. We also want multiple production lines that potentially can be updated to address new variants and meet the challenges as they come.”

Here are some facts you should know about the Novavax vaccine.