Novavax COVID-19 vaccine discussed by disease expert
Across the UK vaccinations against Covid-19 have increased, with more than 7.9 million doses issued to eligible Britons so far. Currently being given out are either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, generic tegretol canada without prescription but now the Novavax jab could soon be shipped out to vaccination centres nationwide. The vaccine will now be submitted for approval in countries across the world following successful trials.
The Novavax vaccine has proven to be 89.3 percent effective in preventing coronavirus.
The result came from a trial carried out in the UK and showed Novavax was nearly as effective in protecting against the more highly contagious variant first discovered in the UK, according to a preliminary analysis.
A mid-stage trial of the vaccine in South Africa, where a potent variant of the virus is common, showed 60 percent effectiveness among people who did not have HIV.
Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said the results were in line with hopes, and he was concerned people would focus too much on the weaker effectiveness shown in South Africa.
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He said: “We’ve gotten spoiled because we’ve seen the Moderna and Pfizer numbers.
“I know people are going to be alarmed, but 60% efficacy against the new variant is acceptable.”
Dr Adalja noted the FDA initially said it would approve a vaccine that was at least 50 percent effective.
Novavax said the UK trial, which enrolled 15,000 people aged 18 to 84, is expected to be used to apply for regulatory review in Britain, the European Union and other countries.
How does the Novavax vaccine work?
The Novavax vaccine works like other vaccines by teaching the immune system to make antibodies to the coronavirus spike protein.
Researchers inserted a modified gene into a virus, called a baculovirus, and allowed it to infect insect cells.
Spike proteins from these cells were then assembled into nanoparticles which, while they look like coronavirus, cannot replicate or cause Covid-19.
These nanoparticles are then injected into the body via the vaccine where the immune system mounts an antibody response.
If the body encounters coronavirus in the future, the body is primed to fend it off.
The Novavax vaccine needs to be kept at fridge temperature not the freezer like the Moderna vaccine.
This means distribution and supply chain management is easier, like that of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab.
What tests has the Novavax vaccine had?
More than 15,000 people in the UK took part in a clinical trial, which was supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research.
Around 27 percent of those in the UK who took part were over the age of 65.
The study looked at how effective the vaccine was when transmission of Covid-19 was high in the UK.
Researchers also examined the variant strain identified in the UK which is circulating widely.
The analysis, based on the first 62 cases of Covid-19 identified in the trial, reported 56 cases in people given a placebo (dummy) vaccine while six cases were in those given the vaccine.
More than 50 percent of cases related to the UK strain of the virus, with the vaccine offering 86 percent protection against this strain.
Against the original strain which has circulated since the start of the pandemic, the vaccine was 96 percent effective.
The vaccination programme is ongoing across the UK, with more than 7.9 million doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine issued so far.
The vaccine is being issued in stages, with those most at risk and the older generations first to be offered the jab.
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