Cyprus has received 15,000 doses of the new Novavax Covid-19 vaccine, with rollout expected in the next few days, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

“It is all ready to be administered at the vaccination centres,” acting director of pharmaceutical services at the health ministry Elena Panayiotopoulou told the Cyprus News Agency.

She added the health ministry will announce the exact date of the rollout of Nuvaxovid on Wednesday.

Novavax’s recombinant protein vaccine contains a version of a protein found on the surface of SARS-CoV-2 (the spike protein), which has been produced in the laboratory.

It is administered in two doses to adults with a three-week interval between doses. It is not administered as a booster dose, Panayiotopoulou said.

According to studies carried out, the efficacy of the Nuvaxovid vaccine is approximately 90 per cent

Panayiotopoulou said the Nuvaxovid anti-coroanvirus vaccine works by preparing the body to defend itself against Covid-19 infection, and she highlighted it also contains an “immune booster”, a substance that helps to boost immune responses to the vaccine.

“When a person receives the vaccine, their immune system will recognise the protein in the vaccine as foreign and produce natural defences – antibodies and T cells – against it,” she said.

If the vaccinated person comes into contact with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the immune system will recognise the spike protein in the virus and be ready to attack.

Antibodies and immune cells can protect against Covid-19 infection by working together to kill the virus, prevent it from entering the body’s cells and destroy infected cells.