Novavax’s closely watched COVID-19 vaccine is on track for full approval after additional discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, the company said Wednesday.

The news appeared to resolve concerns that Trump administration officials might be holding up a decision on the shot.

Novavax makes the nation’s only traditional protein-based COVID-19 vaccine. It is still being sold under emergency use authorization — unlike mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that have earned full FDA approval for certain age groups.

The FDA recently asked Novavax to develop a plan for collecting additional clinical data from those who have gotten the shot, the company said in a statement. It said it is “engaging with the FDA expeditiously” in hopes of receiving approval “as soon as possible.”

At FDA, full vaccine approval is the gold standard. The agency was on track to sign off on Novavax’s license by its April 1 target date, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential agency matters.

But FDA’s acting commissioner, Dr. Sara Brenner, directed the agency’s lead official overseeing the vaccine to pause the decision, according to one of the people. The delay, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, sparked concerns of political interference under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spent decades leading antivaccine groups before joining the federal government as health secretary.

Last month, FDA’s longtime vaccine chief, Dr. Peter Marks, was forced out over disagreements with Kennedy about vaccine safety.

With full FDA approval, Novavax would have permission to keep its shot on the market indefinitely. Products that receive emergency authorization can be removed by FDA after there is no longer a health emergency.

All the COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. train the body to fight the coronavirus by recognizing its outer coating, the spike protein.

Senate Democratic stalwart Durbin to retire

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat for two decades and a leading liberal voice on Capitol Hill, announced Wednesday that he would not seek reelection next year, closing out a 44-year congressional career focused on immigration, the federal justice system and anti-smoking initiatives.

The decision by Durbin, 80, was widely expected and will immediately touch off a crowded competition for a rare Senate vacancy in his solidly blue state. It also intensifies a generational shift in the chamber as he becomes the fifth sitting senator to announce a retirement, all of them over age 65.

In an interview revealing his announcement, Durbin, who is in his fifth Senate term, said it was not an easy choice to step away from his prime perch doing battle with President Donald Trump, whom he considers a dire threat to democracy. He described moments in recent days “where I thought, ‘Man, I don’t want to miss this fight.’”

“But you know,” he continued, “I have to be honest about this. There are good people in the wings, good people on the bench ready to serve, and they can fight this fight just as effectively as I can.”

Texas executes convicted murderer

A Texas man convicted of fatally strangling and stabbing a young mother more than 20 years ago was executed Wednesday evening.

Moises Sandoval Mendoza received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville and was pronounced dead at 6:40 p.m., authorities said. He was condemned for the March 2004 killing of 20-year-old Rachelle O’Neil Tolleson.

Prosecutors say Mendoza, 41, took Tolleson from her north Texas home, leaving her 6-month-old daughter alone. The infant was found cold and wet but safe the next day by Tolleson’s mother. Tolleson’s body was discovered six days later, left in a field near a creek.

Evidence in Mendoza’s case showed he also had burned Tolleson’s body to hide his fingerprints. Dental records were used to identify her, according to investigators.

Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Mendoza’s attorneys to stop his execution.

Weinstein retrial will feature new witness

Harvey Weinstein ’s #MeToo retrial opened Wednesday, giving a new jury a fresh look at familiar rape and sexual assault allegations — plus a newly added claim from a former model.

For the first time, prosecutors publicly identified Kaja Sokola and detailed her account of what unfolded between her and the Oscar-winning movie producer in the early 2000s. He is criminally charged with forcing oral sex on her in 2006, but she also accused him in a civil lawsuit of groping her against her will four years earlier, when she was 16.

Like the two other accusers in the case, Sokola alleges a complex series of encounters and reactions — being sexually assaulted, yet staying in touch, wary of Weinstein but wanting to remain on good terms with a power broker who dangled the possibility of an acting career.

Weinstein has pleaded not guilty, and defense lawyer Arthur Aidala countered by portraying the accusers as willing partners in a showbiz quid pro quo.

India blames Pakistan in fatal Kashmir attack

India blamed Pakistan on Wednesday for a militant attack that killed 26 people in Indian-held Kashmir, downgrading diplomatic ties and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty that has withstood two wars between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The spray of gunfire at tourists Tuesday in a scenic, mountain-ringed valley was the worst assault in years targeting civilians in the restive region that is claimed by both countries. The unidentified gunmen also wounded 17 other people.

India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, announced the diplomatic moves against Pakistan at a news conference in New Delhi late Wednesday, saying a special cabinet meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that the attack had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. However, the government provided no evidence of this publicly.

Pakistan said it would respond more fully to India’s actions on Thursday, but in the meantime Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad said that India was using “an unfortunate incident of terrorism” as a pretext to jettison a treaty it has long been trying to evade.

Istanbul hit by 6.2-magnitude quake

A powerful earthquake shook Istanbul on Wednesday, sending residents of Turkey’s most populous city pouring into the streets as buildings swayed and onlookers screamed.

The magnitude-6.2 tremor, which hit at 12:49 p.m. local time, rattled nerves in a country still traumatized by a devastating 2023 quake that struck the southeast. Turkey straddles two major fault lines and is regularly hit by earthquakes. The residents of Istanbul, in particular, have been bracing for a major quake that experts have warned for years is overdue in the ancient city.

The city of 16 million seemed to have evaded the long-predicted threat Wednesday, with no deaths reported by late afternoon. But widespread panic spurred many people to jump off their balconies, according to the local governor’s office, which said 151 people had been injured doing so.

More than 50 aftershocks followed and shook Istanbul and the area around it throughout the day.

— From news services