Organization	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Organization	OrganizationNovavax, Inc. (“Novavax,” and together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, Novavax AB and Novavax CZ (formerly, Praha Vaccines a.s.), the “Company”) is a late-stage biotechnology company that promotes improved global health through the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative vaccines to prevent serious infectious diseases and address urgent, global health needs. The Company’s vaccine candidates, including both its coronavirus vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, and its lead influenza vaccine candidate, NanoFluTM, are genetically engineered, three-dimensional nanostructures of recombinant proteins critical to disease pathogenesis and may elicit differentiated immune responses, which may be more efficacious than naturally occurring immunity or traditional vaccines.

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=99393423&loc=d3e5967-108592

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479

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