Sept 23 (Reuters) - Novavax Inc (NVAX.O) and its partner Serum Institute of India have applied to the World Health Organization for an emergency use listing of Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, potentially clearing the way for the shot to ship to many poorer countries, the company said on Thursday.
A WHO listing would allow Novavax to ship to multiple developing nations that rely on WHO guidance for their regulatory decisions.
It would also allow Novavax to begin distributing shots through the COVAX facility, which aims to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
The Novavax shot is a protein-based vaccine, and was shown to be more than 90% effective, including against a variety of concerning variants of the coronavirus in a large, late-stage U.S.-based clinical trial.
Early studies suggest Novavax is effective at protecting against the contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, which has become dominant in many countries.