(Bloomberg) -- Novavax Inc. has shipped the first doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to Europe, marking the drug company’s entry into a potentially large new market.

Chief Executive Officer Stanley Erck announced the shipments during a presentation on Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. The company also said in a statement that it and its partner Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. had filed for an emergency-use authorization for the shot in South Africa.

The company’s vaccine was authorized in Europe last month. The shot is also in use in several countries in Asia, including Indonesia, and it has also been granted emergency-use status by the World Health Organization. Novavax is now seeking clearance in the U.S., and Erck said the company expects feedback from regulators sometime in February. 

Manufacturing problems had earlier slowed Novavax’s entry into the global vaccine market. Its shares, which have gained about 10% over the past year, were up 1.5% at 9:52 a.m. in New York.

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