Novavax Inc. said Thursday that it is COVID-19 The vaccine appears 89% effective based on the first findings of a British study and which also appears to work – albeit not so well – against new mutant strains of the virus that circulate in that country and in South Africa.
The announcement comes amid concern that a variety of vaccines being launched around the world will be strong enough to protect against worrying new variants – and the world also needs new types of sprouts to increase scarce supplies.
The study of 15,000 people in Britain is still ongoing. But a provisional analysis found that 62 participants so far have been diagnosed with COVID-19 – only six of them in the group that received the vaccine and the rest who received false injections.
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 study participants who were infected had the mutated version. The numbers are very small, but Novavax said they suggest the vaccine is almost 96% effective against the old coronavirus and almost 86% effective against the new variant.
Scientists are even more concerned about a strain first discovered in South Africa that carries different mutations – and the results of a smaller Novavax study suggest that the vaccine works, but not as well as against the British variant.
The South African study included some volunteers with HIV. Among HIV negative volunteers, the vaccine appears 60% effective. Including immunocompromised volunteers, overall protection was 49%, the company said. While genetic testing is still ongoing, so far about 90% of the COVID-19 diseases found in the South African study appear due to the new mutant.
Preliminary findings may help Novavax obtain authorization for its vaccine in Britain, but the U.S. government is funding a much larger study that is still recruiting volunteers.
COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the new coronavirus, especially the spike protein that surrounds it. But the Novavax candidate is made differently from the first shots used. Called a recombinant protein vaccine, the Maryland company uses genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the peak coronavirus protein in insect cells. Scientists extract and purify the protein and then mix it with a chemical that boosts the immune system.