COVID-19 Vaccine developer Novavax recently released data about its vaccine, saying it is 96% effective in preventing cases from the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, CNBC reports.
- The vaccine led to no severe illnesses or deaths from COVID-19.
- The data comes from a late-stage trial in the United Kingdom. The data puts the vaccine closer to emergency approval.
So what about the COVID-19 variants?
The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine is about 86% effective in protecting against the variant found in the United Kingdom, according to CNBC.
- If you combine data from the U.K. variant and the normal variant, the vaccine was about 90% effective.
In South Africa, the Novavax vaccine was 55% effective but prevented severe illness and death, per CNBC.
Why this is good news
Dr. Gregory Glenn, president of research and development at Novavax, told Time magazine it is good news there’s such a powerful vaccine to stop the coronavirus.
- “I did not think it was possible to have a vaccine prevent 96% of any respiratory disease,” he said, per Time magazine. “That’s outstanding, and I’m personally ecstatic. If you had asked me a year ago (to predict) the very best vaccine we could expect, I would have said 80% or 85% efficacy against any respiratory disease would be pretty amazing.”
What’s next
The data comes from the United Kingdom and South Africa trials. A third trial in the United States is underway right now with 30,000 participants. But it won’t have results for a few more months, according to USA Today.