New Coronavirus Vaccine, Novavax, Shown to Be Nearly 90 Percent Effective

Another vaccine against Covid, trialled in the UK and bought by the government, has been shown to be nearly 90% effective and work against the UK and South African variants of the virus.

The UK vaccines taskforce has bought 60m doses of the Novavax vaccine, one of seven in its portfolio, and it will be manufactured on Teesside in the UK. If it is given emergency authorisation by the UK regulator, it could boost the country's immunisation programme and solve the potential problems over the supply of the other two vaccines in use.

Results show that the Novavax vaccine, which has been going through late-stage trials in the last few months, is highly protective against the variant of the coronavirus that emerged in Kent. It also gives some protection - though less - against the variant causing even more concern in South Africa, which scientists think may be capable of evading the vaccines currently in use.

The US company said the results of its phase 3 final trials in the UK, involving 15,000 people, showed 89.3% efficacy. Almost 4,000 people in the study (27%) were in the over-65 age group, who are most at risk from the virus. Half the cases of Covid in the trial were identified as caused by the variant that emerged in Kent, known as B117.

The vaccine had higher efficacy against the original coronavirus, of 95.6%, and 85.6% against the UK variant - so 89.3% overall.