New research from drugmaker Novavax shows that its COVID-19 vaccine is highly effective against the original and United Kingdom strains of the coronavirus. It appears to have less efficacy, though, against the South Africa strain.
The U.S. has agreed to purchase 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, and the company predicts that it will receive an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration by May.
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Novavax announced Thursday that its phase 3 trial of the vaccine showed an efficacy of 96% against the original strain of the virus. The same trial found 86% efficacy against the U.K. variant.
In its phase 2 trial with the South Africa variant, the efficacy was just under 49%. However, that rose to 55% among patients who were HIV-negative.
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The efficacy numbers above include all cases of COVID-19, including mild cases. Against severe cases involving hospitalization or death, the vaccine had 100% efficacy in both trials.
