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Wednesday, December 6, 2023 | 
U.S. & World

There’s a new COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax, which is pretty effective

Novavax has reported new data about its vaccine in new United Kingdom trials

By Herb Scribner Herb Scribnerhscribner@deseretnews.com
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A vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine is seen ready for use in the trial at St. George’s University hospital in London Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.

A vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine is seen ready for use in the trial at St. George’s University hospital in London Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020.

Associated Press

There’s another new coronavirus vaccine from Novavax that is likely 89.3% effective, according to large-scale trials in the United Kingdom.

What’s going on?

Novavax said that the first trial for its vaccine shows it is effective in preventing COVID-19 complications 89.3% of the time.

  • The vaccine is also effective against the new U.K. virus variant, too. Per BBC News, the vaccine stops the new variant with 86% effectiveness.
  • The vaccine will be given in two doses.
  • The company said it enrolled 15,000 people from 18 to 84 years old for the study. Only 27% of those in the study were 65 years or older.
  • The vaccine stopped the South Africa variant of the virus 60% of the time.
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Key quote

  • “NVX-CoV2373 has the potential to play an important role in solving this global public health crisis. We look forward to continuing to work with our partners, collaborators, investigators and regulators around the world to make the vaccine available as quickly as possible,” said Stanley C. Erck, president and chief executive officer of Novavax, in a statement.
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Other vaccine news

The Novavax comes amid other coronavirus vaccine news that came out this week. For example, Johnson & Johnson said its single-shot coronavirus vaccine is 66% effective against COVID-19.

Similarly, the AstraZeneca vaccine made headlines because it might have an age caveat for elderly citizens, according to The Associated Press. The vaccine, though effective, has been deemed not as effective for elderly populations, which has worried experts.