Novavax is an anti-COVID vaccine that has been submitted to the FDA for approval. Developed by a Maryland biotech company, Novavax is already in use in 170 countries, including the UK and here in Australia.
It is a traditional protein vaccine, similar to today’s flu shots, as opposed to the new-style mRNA vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer. Novavax is derived from moth cells. The company says it is showing 90% effectiveness.
But here is what makes Novavax distinctive: It was made with no use of fetal tissue or cell lines from aborted fetuses.
That cannot be said of some of the other vaccines. Moderna and Pfizer are not made of fetal cell lines, but the testing process did make use of them. Pro-life groups, including the LCMS, generally believe Moderna and Pfizer vaccines can be taken ethically, though not those of AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson. But many pro-lifers believe that the way they were tested makes Moderna and Pfizer problematic also.
But, according to the company, “No human fetal-derived cell lines or tissue, including HEK293 cells, are used in the development, manufacture or production of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373.”
Pro-life activist Abby Johnson, a critic of other vaccines, hailed this development. “It is my understanding that (Novavax) has been used successfully in several countries with a high efficacy rate,” she said. “It is also my understanding that there are not any ethical concerns regarding Novavax, which is hopeful for pro-lifers who have avoided the vaccine due to those objections.”
Some pro-lifers cite a scientific study that said fetal cell lines were used in all vaccines including Novavax. But the company insists that this is not true, that the data cited in the paper “did not include our vaccine protein, and is completely independent of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine development.”
Some opponents of vaccines, such as Robert Kennedy, are less hostile to Novavax because its approach using proteins is more conventional and less experimental than the mRNA shots. Those can cause the rare side effect of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart, but Novavax does not.
So here is my question: Those of you opposed to the COVID vaccines, would you consider getting Novavax, once it becomes available, possibly in a few weeks?
HT: Christianity Today
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
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