'Novavax jab 100 per cent effective against moderate to severe Covid-19'

NOVAVAX’s Covid vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, has demonstrated 100 per cent protection against "moderate and severe disease", the company said in a press release on Monday (14), adding that the trial had shown its vaccine was also 93 per cent effective against different variants and 91 per cent effective in protecting high-risk populations.

In the trial done on 29,960 participants across 119 sites in the US and Mexico, the vaccine was found to be 100 per cent effective against moderate to severe disease. It was 93 per cent effective against variants that were circulating at the time of the trial – the alpha, beta and gamma variants that originated in the UK, South Africa and Brazil respectively, the company said, adding that the vaccine has 91 per cent efficacy in high-risk populations.

Preliminary safety data from the study also showed "generally mild and moderate" pain and tenderness around the injection site, as well as fatigue, muscle pain and headache were mentioned as the most common symptoms in participants.

Announcing the US trial results, Novavax said it will file for regulatory approval in the third quarter of the year and will be able to produce up to 100 million doses a month by then.

The UK has ordered 60m doses of the Novavax vaccine, which has manufacturing agreements in Britain. Novavax has committed to provide 1.1bn doses to COVAX, the UN-led initiative to get vaccines to poorer countries.

Stanley C Erck, Novavax’s president and the chief executive officer said, “Today, Novavax is one step closer to addressing the critical and persistent global public health need for additional Covid-19 vaccines.”

“These clinical results reinforce that NVX-CoV2373 is extremely effective and offers complete protection against both moderate and severe Covid-19 infection.”

The company said it will remain on track to reach a manufacturing capacity of 100m doses a month by the end of the third quarter and 150m doses a month by the end of 2021.