American vaccine development company Novavax Inc. says that its coronavirus vaccine has 89.3% effectiveness in preventing Covid-19 in third-phase clinical trials.
Test results also found that it was also effective 85.6% to protect against the more contagious variant found in the UK, but not for the South African variant.
A second phase study conducted in South Africa, showed that the vaccine was less effective against new variants that hit the country with an effectiveness rate of only 49.4%.
Following that, Novavax said it plans to test the modified vaccine in the second quarter of this year.
The company also stated that the results of these announced tests are temporary data and executives expect another two to three months before they are ready to apply for approval from medical regulators.
The trial in the UK, which involved 15,000 people aged 18 to 84, is expected to be used to get permission to use it in Britain, the European Union and other countries.
The approval of the Novavax vaccine will be very welcome in Europe as it is currently facing a small supply of vaccines after Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca Plc deliver fewer doses than expected.
After hearing about the effectiveness of almost 90% of the Novavax vaccine, Uk Prime Minister Boris Johnson signaled that Britain's regulatory body, the MHRA, had begun testing the vaccine for its use.
The UK government has also reportedly ordered 60 million doses of the vaccine but has yet to agree.
