Australia's newest approved COVID-19 vaccine will be available from the end of February, after the medical regulator gave the green light to Novavax.
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Novavax is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and is the first protein-based vaccine to join the country's arsenal against the pandemic.
A final approval will still need to be granted by the country's leading vaccine advisory group.
Two doses of the vaccine will be spaced 21 days apart.
The federal government has ordered 51 million doses of the vaccine that will be made available through state clinics, GPs and pharmacies.
While more than 95 per cent of the population aged 16 and older have received their first dose of a vaccine, the head of the TGA John Skerritt said Novavax would complement existing vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna.
"There are some individuals, notwithstanding a massive take-up of vaccination in this country, who have been waiting for Novavax, and it's great that it's finally been approved," Professor Skerritt said.
"Our dream is we might turn our 95 per cent into a 97 or 98 per cent in this country."
The Novavax vaccine has not been approved to be used as a booster shot or for people under 18, but the medical regulator indicated it would work through a future submission as soon as possible.
Trials show the vaccine had over 90 per cent efficacy with "no strong signals of adverse events", Prof Skerritt said.
Protein vaccines use a non-infectious component found on the surface of the coronavirus and are manufactured in cells in a laboratory.
After vaccination, immune cells recognise the vaccine protein as foreign and launch an immune response against it.
Australian Associated Press