BERLIN: Germany expects to receive 3.8 million doses of Novavax's newly approved COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid by March 20, the health ministry said on Tuesday, as the government looks to persuade unvaccinated Germans to get a shot.

Germany will receive 1.4 million doses in the week of Feb. 21 and should receive the rest of the 3.8 million doses in the subsequent few weeks.

Novavax is expected to deliver 34 million doses to Germany this year. The shipment is a part of the US drugmaker's deal to supply up to 200 million doses to the European Union's 27 member states.

Novavax's protein-based vaccine, which was approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in December, uses alternative technology to the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, , Moderna, AstraZeneca and J&J.

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This could convince reluctant Germans, sceptical about the novel mRNA technology and its long-term effects, to take Novavax's more traditional vaccine and boost Germany's vaccination rate, which is lower than other western European countries.

Data from two large studies showed the vaccine has an efficacy rate of around 90% and the firm said early data showed it was effective in generating an immune response against the more infectious Omicron variant.