An experimental Covid-19 vaccine appears to offer strong protection in late-stage UK and South Africa studies, its manufacturer Novavax has claimed.
The UK has secured access to 60 million doses of the vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373.
The protein-based vaccine candidate was shown to be 89.3 per cent effective at preventing coronavirus in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK.
It enrolled more than 15,000 people between 18-84, of which 27 per cent were older than 65, Novavax said.
Stanley Erck, the biotechnology firm’s president and chief executive said :“NVX-CoV2373 is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against Covid-19 but also significant clinical efficacy against both the rapidly emerging UK and South Africa variants."
The trial was carried out in conjunction with the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce, with its chairman Clive Dix saying in a statement: “These are spectacular results, and we are very pleased to have helped Novavax with the development of this vaccine.
“The efficacy shown against the emerging variants is also extremely encouraging.
"This is an incredible achievement that will ensure we can protect individuals in the UK and the rest of the world from this virus.”
