WASHINGTON — An independent advisory committee voted on Tuesday overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing biotech company Novavax’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine.

The Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 21-0 with one abstention, in favor of granting Emergency Use Authorization status for the traditional style vaccine.

Maryland-based Novax applied for the approval in February of an EUA based on data showing it “would prevent COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age and older.”

The Novavax vaccine is a more traditional protein-based type of vaccine, employing a whole, deactivated virus.

The two widely used vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer, which have already been approved by the FDA, are mRNA-based.

The single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is the only non-mRNA shot approved for use in the United States by the FDA, though it was limited in May to adults who can’t receive other versions of the vaccine.