MyBody MyRisk
- Nov 15, 2021
- 3 min read

Inside the NOVAVAX Vaccine: Baculovirus, mutated proteins, pathogenic bacteria, and Polysorbate-80

Many people are asking about whether they should tempt fate with the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

Choosing whether or not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or choosing which vaccine to get, I wholeheartedly believe should be every individual's choice.

And in order to make that choice, I am a big believer in informed consent.

With that being said...

Let's take a look at the Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine

Here's how Novavax is made

Side notes:

a. The genetically engineered modifications are to the spike protein (K986P and V987P) Unfortunately, the protein is contaminated with pathogenic bacteria (aka endotoxins).

b. Novavax uses the larvae of army moths infected with baculovirus.

Not sure how COVID-19 DNA transcribes to RNA, but this image shows it does 🤣

The cells then produce the spike protein which protrude outside the surface of each cell (let's hope the spikes don't protrude from the cell walls of blood vessels and into the bloodstream 🤐 ).

This is definitely one of the most interesting steps. Polysorbate-80 (aka Tween-80) is added to the jabs.

Between steps 5 and 6, the Matrix-M adjuvant is added.

SPIKE VS. MATRIX-M ADJUVANT

The interesting thing here is the composition of the jab.

They put 5 micrograms of the spike proteins in with 50 micrograms of the adjuvant. So, the overall dose is 55 micrograms.

Pfizer is 30 micrograms in total. This jab is nearly twice as big as Pfizer and AstraZeneca jabs. And yes, you still need 2 doses.

The finished product!

More about Baculovirus

NOTE: dsDNA = Double-Stranded DNA

What are the other excipients?

Excipients of concern

Polysorbate-80

It is an amber/golden-colored viscous liquid. It is made from polyethoxylated sorbitan (chemical compounds derived from the dehydration of sugar alcohol) and oleic acid, a fatty acid found in animal and vegetable fats.

Issues

Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation.
May cause adverse reproductive effects based on animal test data. No human data found.
May cause cancer based on animal test data. No human data found.
May affect genetic material (mutagenic)

More info here

Saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant

Systemic reactogenicity is also an issue for adjuvants that induce local tissue damage (e.g. oil emulsions and saponins), as this results in release of endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that activate innate immune receptors and induce inflammation. Typically, such inflammation-associated adjuvant reactogenicity would be expected to settle once the innate immune response subsides, but may potentially last for up to several weeks post-immunisation.

View full article here

Through its detergent effects, saponin disrupts cell membranes, resulting in moderate to severe injection site pain and muscle cell damage and death, causing local redness, swelling and granuloma formation. Saponin adjuvants also cause red blood cell haemolysis, reflecting the affinity of saponins for cholesterol present in erythrocyte membranes. To make the saponin less toxic, QS21 can be mixed with cholesterol to form ISCOMs. ISCOM particles induce less haemolysis but still induce systemic side effects, including flu-like symptoms, fever and malaise.

View full article here

Composition

It's quite interesting to see that each dose contains 10 times the amount of adjuvant than the actual spike.

Also, each dose is 55 micrograms, which is nearly double that of Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

2 doses are required

Testing different amounts of adjuvant

I find it interesting that, when the adjuvant wasn't added to the vaccine, antibodies weren't really increased, even after 5 weeks, and with 25 micrograms of the spike in the jab.