New Delhi: American biotechnology company Novavax’s two-dose vaccine can confer 89.7 per cent protection against the SARS-CoV-2 infection, according to phase 3 trial results published in the UK Thursday. The vaccine also showed high efficacy against Alpha and other variants of the virus.
The vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, contains spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 along with an adjuvant known as Matrix-M. Adjuvants are usually added to increase the efficacy of a vaccine.
The phase 3 trial of the vaccine was conducted between 28 September and 28 November at 33 sites in the UK. It included 15,187 participants over the age of 18 and half of them received two doses of NVX-CoV2373 vaccine at an interval of 21 days while the other half received placebos.
As many as 27.9 per cent of the participants in the trial were 65 years of age or older and 44.6 per cent had co-existing illnesses.
According to the results of the study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, 10 participants in the vaccine group were infected with Covid while 96 people in the placebo group were infected.
Of the 10 infections, no cases of hospitalisation were reported among those who were fully vaccinated while five cases of severe infection were seen in the placebo group.
Two deaths related to Covid-19 were reported, one in the vaccine group and one in the placebo group.
A 53-year-old man succumbed to the virus after he developed symptoms seven days after the first dose. He died 15 days after being inoculated.
Meanwhile, a 61-year-old man from the placebo group died from complications related to Covid-19 pneumonia and sepsis after being hospitalised for 24 days.
No deaths were reported among participants who received both doses of the vaccine.
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Efficacy against variants
According to the trial results, the efficacy of the Novavax vaccine was slightly reduced to 86.3 per cent against the Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) of the virus.
However, a 96.4 per cent efficacy was recorded against non-Alpha variants.
Serious adverse events were low in the trial, the study said, with similar incidence of these events in the two groups.
However, the researchers acknowledged that the trial had some limitations.
While about 7,500 participants received the vaccine in the trial, the number is too low to identify or rule out rare adverse events caused by the vaccine.
Ongoing follow-up of participants, which is planned to continue until 12 months after the administration of the second dose of vaccine, is likely to help identify such events.
Meanwhile, the Serum Institute of India in Pune has already started manufacturing the vaccine in India
The vaccine, which is being manufactured under the name Covovax, is likely to be available in the country this year even though its launch has faced several delays.
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