Inside Novavax’s two-pronged campaign to introduce its COVID-19 vaccine to the public and healthcare providers – PR Week

Even though COVID-19 vaccines have been widely available in the U.S. for more than a year, the manufacturer of a new vaccine, and some analysts, say the latest option could move some unvaccinated people to finally get the shot.

Silvia Taylor, SVP of global corporate affairs for Novavax, which produced the vaccine, said her company also has a communications strategy to increase vaccination levels around the world.

The company, which is based in Maryland, requested in late January that the Food and Drug Administration authorize its vaccine for adults. On March 10, the company launched a campaign for consumers, We Do Vaccines, and one for healthcare providers, Know Our Vax. They provide information about the companys Covid vaccine, as well as other vaccines.

In advance of the launch, Taylor spoke with PRWeek about what makes the Novavax vaccine different from others and why she thinks some people will finally decide to get a shot.

Novavaxs COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, is a protein-based vaccine, and that is the key difference. The vaccines on the market right now are mRNA and some viral vector vaccines, and the reason our vaccine is important is its based on a technology platform that is well understood and tried and true in vaccines.

Also, our vaccine is not frozen. Because it is refrigerated, it can be distributed using the standard vaccine-distribution channels around the world, which means that if you are looking at populations in remote areas, in rural areas, in the developing world, our vaccine can be a really good choice.

This is a pandemic, so we need to look at it from a global public health perspective. Globally, about 56% of the population has been vaccinated. That is an impressive number, but it is far from universal.

The mantra in a pandemic, especially a COVID-19 pandemic, is that no one is safe until everyone is safe, so we need to make sure that vaccination rates are universally high.

What is so amazing to us is the number of people around the world who tell us that even though they have had other choices in vaccination, they are waiting for our vaccine. Those are people in countries like the U.S., and in Europe, where we have already made tremendous progress in shipping our vaccine.

(In Germany, a survey found that among 4,000 unvaccinated hospital workers, 1,800 were interested in getting a protein-based vaccine, according to the Guardian.)

This is a technology platform that people recognize and understand. There are vaccines on the market, like for HPV and Shingles and influenza, that use protein-based technology. Our job in communications is to make sure that people know what our vaccine is, its clinical profile, its well-tolerated safety profile.

We have two campaigns that are built off a common educational theme one geared to consumers and one geared towards healthcare providers.

The consumer one is going to educate people around the world about the common types of vaccines and the options that people have. I think in COVID-19, we have seen a really educated population that I havent seen in other markets in terms of, how does this product, this vaccine work? What does it do in my body? How might I react, and most importantly, how will it protect me from COVID-19?

Also, in an environment that we have never seen before, where corporate awareness is synonymous with vaccine awareness, it is really important for people to know who Novavax is. We know that awareness of the company will drive confidence in the vaccine that comes from that company. For healthcare providers, our campaign is aimed at educating them about our technology and about Novavax.

All of it actually. We are going to have websites. The consumer one is called Wedovaccines.com, and then the healthcare providers one is Knowourvax.com.

We also have social media that were going to be doing to raise awareness of the campaigns and traditional journal advertising, so its going to be a mix of digital and print.

I really think its two things. There is this public health component; its good for the world to ensure that global vaccination rates are high so that we can finally eradicate this pandemic. Until we do that, variants are still going to emerge.

But also more concretely, its to keep oneself and their loved ones safe from the ill consequences of severe disease, hospitalization and death.

I think whats important is when people have a choice. Around the world, people have not had a lot of choice in terms of the platform available to them. We find that it matters. People want to get educated and want to understand what the vaccine they are getting will do to them and for them.

Our strategy is to educate people on the science and the facts, and the facts are that we have 90% efficacy; a well-tolerated safety profile and we are built on a technology platform that people have taken before, and that is reassuring for many people.

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Inside Novavax's two-pronged campaign to introduce its COVID-19 vaccine to the public and healthcare providers - PR Week