Australia will begin rolling out the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine at select general practices, community pharmacies, and state clinics across the country for Australians aged 18 and over from Feb. 14, one week earlier than planned. It is the first protein-based vaccine approved for Australians, allowing people who have allergies to certain ingredients used in approved vaccines or other issues to take an alternative option. “Protein vaccines use a non-infectious protein component of the virus manufactured in a lab. After vaccination, immune cells recognise the vaccine protein as foreign and launch an immune response against it,” Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said in a statement. While most people in Australia are already vaccinated, with 95 percent of people aged 12 and above having taken at least one dose, Hunt expects the arrival of Novavax will encourage that number to go higher. “Despite high vaccination rates in Australia, there has been a …