Novavax: Is It a Traditional Vaccine?
With boosters now required to maintain Vaccine Passports as current, we have had many inquiries about Novavax. This vaccine is being touted as a traditional vaccine and thus suitable for people who are concerned about the gene-based vaccines such as Pfizer.
The short answer is that while Novavax uses traditional technology, it still produces disease. As such it is not a traditional vaccine.
Types of Vaccines
In this time of mis-information, claims and counter-claims, lets go back to using words with meaning.
A traditional vaccine was defined as an intervention that protected the recipient from illness by inducing immunity. Since 2021 an intervention can be called a vaccine if it stimulates the immune system. So the vaccine no longer has to protect from disease, it only has to stimulate the immune system. Stimulation of the immune system can be good or bad, as anyone with an auto-immune disease has experienced. In fact, a “hyperimmune” response is seen in Covid-19 which results in a severe form of the disease.
| VACCINE TYPE | EXAMPLE |
| Live, attenuated: The virus or bacteria is weakened so that it can no longer replicate very well in humans but will replicate enough to cause an immune response. | MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) Varicella (chickenpox) Zoster (shingles) Rotavirus |
| Inactivated / killed: The virus is killed using heat or chemicals but is kept intact, so it is recognised by the immune system. | Polio Hepatitis A Influenza |
| Inactivated toxin: Some bacteria produce toxins that cause disease. The toxin is inactivated by heat or chemical as used in the vaccine to stimulate the immune system. | Diptheria, tetanus (part of Boostrix) |
| Subunit / recombinant / conjugate: Subunit vaccines contain only pieces of the virus or bacteria. (e.g. Pertussis) Recombinant vaccines consist of a protein or viral-like-particle from a microbe that has been produced by a different virus or culture cells through genetic engineering. (e.g. Hep B, HPV). The protein or particle cannot cause disease but can stimulate the immune response. Conjugate vaccines are made from parts of a bacterial wall combined to a carrier protein. This creates a powerful, combined immune response (e.g. pneumococcal, meninigocccal, HiB). These types of vaccine generally require an adjuvant or substance that enhances the immune response. | Novovax Covid-19 Hepatitis B Influenza Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) Pertussus (part of Boostrix) Pneumococcal Meningococcal Human papillomavirus (HPV) |
| mRNA: The “vaccine” contains the genetic instructions (blueprint) to make part of the microbe (e.g. the instructions to make the spike protein part of the Sars-CoV2 virus). Your body recogonises these instructions, makes the spike protein, to which your body then mounts an immune response. It is a bit like recombinant vaccines except using your own cells rather than culture cells in the laboratory. | Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 |
Is Novavax a traditional vaccine?
To make the Novavax injection, a recombinant technique to produce a viral-like particle or protein is used. In this case cell-lines from moths are used. The cells produce the spike protein which is then extracted and purified. The spike protein is combined with saponins as the adjuvant, for an increased immune response.
This is only part of the picture. The company states that “our recombinant vaccine engineering takes a new approach to provide robust and functional immunity, which may be more efficacious than naturally occurring immunity or traditional vaccines”. This clearly indicates that Novavax is not a traditional vaccine.
Questions about Novavax
The Novavax injection administers the Sars-CoV-2 spike protein directly into the muscle, along with Saponin to increase the immune response. It is known that the Spike protein causes disease, impairs DNA repair and damages blood vessels.
So instead of injecting a viral-like particle or protein that does not cause disease, Novavax injects a viral-like particle or protein that does cause disease. This is not a traditional method of vaccination.
Furthermore, it is unclear whether the adjuvant saponin is safe. Traditional adjuvants such as aluminum and mercury may elicit significant adverse effects in some people and saponin is known to be irritating to the body.
No information is provided about the nanoparticles. We are suspicious.
Watch A Webinar on Novavax
Natural Immunity
What did we do before we had vaccines? We are led to believe that there is no cure for viruses. This is of course false. Humans have evolved alongside microbes including viruses for millennia. Viral DNA is found in our own human DNA.
So, humans are well placed to stay healthy when infected with viruses, even “new” viruses. Our innate immune system can mount a response against microbes that it has not encountered before. Furthermore, if you have ever had a cold, you have some memory of how to fight Coronaviruses in general.
Of course, we all get sick. That is part of being human and allows us to get stronger. When we respect and nourish our bodies, we can mount our own superior immunity without needing to subject ourselves to nano-particles or purified spike protein.
