Slovakia rolls out Novavax in bid to sway vaccine-shy

BRATISLAVA: Slovakia on Thursday began using a new Covid vaccine made by the US firm Novavax, which experts hope will win over sceptics as it is made with time-honoured technology.

The country has one of the EU’s lowest vaccination levels, with only 51 percent of its population of 5.4 million fully immunised.

“Vaccination with the new vaccine began in two hospitals on Thursday, more will follow,” health ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Eliasova told AFP.

She said that by Monday, Nuvaxovid should be available at 46 vaccination centres across the country.

The European Commission authorised the US firm’s vaccine as its fifth official jab for use across the European Union in late December.

Slovak Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky had welcomed the jab, saying: “I think people might be interested in being vaccinated with a conventional vaccine.”

Slovak immunologists also have high hopes.

Read more: New Zealand approves 3rd COVID-19 vaccine Novavax

The Novavax offering is a vaccine based on so-called protein subunit technology — a method used for decades to vaccinate people against diseases such as hepatitis B and whooping cough.

Visolajsky said the fact that previous Covid vaccines were tested on stem cells from aborted foetuses may also have discouraged religious Slovaks from getting the jab.

“Using a proven and more conventional technologies can be an important argument in Slovakia,” he told AFP.

As of Thursday, fewer than 2,000 Slovaks have signed up for the new jab.

Slovakia has ordered 600,000 doses , according to Eliasova. The first 93,000 vaccines arrived last week.