More good vaccine news this week: Novavax, the current candidate using a recombinant protein method, released results from trials in the United Kingdom and South Africa, and they look good. Here’s the breakdown:
- 100% effective against hospitalization and death across all regions tested
- 96.4% effective against symptomatic disease in the “original strain”
- 86.3% effective against symptomatic B.1.1.7
- 48.6% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 in South Africa (where B.1.351 is the predominant strain)
It should be noted that the UK trial was a full phase 3, while the South African trial was a smaller phase 2b trial—so we have less information for South Africa. There’s also currently a 30,000-person trial happening in the United States and Mexico which should shed more light on what this vaccine can do. But for now, these results are super encouraging.