(Reuters) – The United States has administered more than 7,300 doses of Novavax Inc’s COVID-19 shot, which health officials hope will convince more people to opt for vaccinations as it is based on a technology that has been in use for decades.
Over 330,000 doses of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed in the United States, and more than 2,300 people have been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated on Thursday.
This is the first set of data on the vaccine’s use in the U.S. since its authorization last month.
The CDC in July recommended Novavax’s two-dose vaccine for individuals aged 18 and above, hoping that the protein-based shot would find acceptance among people uncomfortable with the new messenger RNA technology-based Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc vaccines.
Novavax vaccine is based on a traditional technology that has been used to combat diseases including hepatitis B and influenza.
(Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
