The United States government has agreed to purchase another 1.5 million Covid-19 vaccines from the company Novavax Inc.

The reason for this recent purchase is that the U.S. government intends to finally put an end to the national public health emergency come May of this year. By this time government purchasing and providing of the Covid-19 vaccines will come to an end and the shots will then have to be obtained commercially. The recent decision to purchase 1.5 million shots is intended to provide a significant buffer zone for the coming transition.

Neither the U.S. government nor Novavax has stated just how much these vaccines will cost, but part of the deal involves the government providing aid to Novavax for future research into the vaccine, this involves developing protection for future variants, or lower doses with the same result.

Novavax’s protein-based vaccine has not been nearly as popular as other versions that use RNA, however, the benefit of Novavax is many individuals can experience negative effects from the mRNA shots and thus require an alternative.

The U.S. government had previously purchased over 3 million doses of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine but have since then expired.

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‍Source: Wall Street Journal