Novavax Inc. said on Thursday that she COVID-19 vaccine appears to be 89% effective, based on early findings from a British study, and it also seems to work – though not quite as well – against new mutated strains of the virus circulating in the country and South Africa.
The announcement comes amid concerns over whether a range of vaccines will be rolled out around the world, strong enough to protect against worrying new variants – and the world also needs new types of shoots to promote scarce stocks.
The study of 15,000 people in Britain is still ongoing. But an interim analysis found that 62 participants have so far been diagnosed with COVID-19. Only six of them in the group who received the vaccine, and the rest who received a shot.
The infections occurred at a time when Britain was experiencing a jump in COVID-19, caused by a more contagious variant. A preliminary analysis found that more than half of the participants in the trial who became infected had the mutated version. The numbers are very small, but Novavax said they suggest that the vaccine is almost 96% effective against the older coronavirus and almost 86% effective against the new variant.
Scientists were even more concerned about a strain that was first discovered in South Africa and that has different mutations, and the results of a smaller Novavax study suggest that the vaccine does work, but not as well as against the variant from Britain.
The South African study included some volunteers with HIV. Among HIV-negative volunteers, the vaccine appears to be 60% effective. Including the volunteers who come through immune danger, the protection was generally 49%, the company said. While genetic testing is still ongoing, about 90% of the COVID-19 diseases found in the South African study due to the new mutant appear so far.
Preliminary findings may help get Novavax authorized for the vaccine in Britain, but the U.S. government is funding a much larger study that is still recruiting volunteers.
Vaccinations against COVID-19 train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, mostly the peak protein that covers it. But the Novavax candidate is made different from the first shots used. The company Maryland is called a recombinant protein vaccine and uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus ear protein in insect cells. Scientists extract and purify the protein and then mix in an immune-boosting chemical.