An experimental Covid-19 vaccine appears to offer strong protection in late-stage UK and South Africa studies, said manufacturer Novavax.
The UK has secured access to 60 million doses of the vaccine, called NVX-CoV2373. The protein-based vaccine candidate was shown to be 89.3% effective at preventing coronavirus in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK, which enrolled more than 15,000 people between 18-84, of which 27% were older than 65, Novavax said. "NVX-CoV2373 is the first vaccine to demonstrate not only high clinical efficacy against Covid-19 but also significant clinical efficacy against both the rapidly emerging UK and South Africa variants," said Stanley Erck, the biotechnology firm's president and chief executive.