Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized an updated version of Novavax's protein-based COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in individuals aged 12 years and older, the health regulator said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director last month signed off on broad use of updated COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc with German partner BioNTech SE and from Moderna, covering ages six months and up, for the autumn vaccination campaign.

Novavax's shot is based on an older technology than the messenger RNA vaccines. (Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)