Protein-based COVID-19 Vaccine Over 79% Effective

The JAMA Network today published the results from an Original Investigation on the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine.

In collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services, Novavax researchers assessed the neutralizing antibody response to its COVID-19 vaccine (NVX-CoV2373) in a phase 3 clinical trial among adolescents from April 26 to June 5, 2021.

Vaccine efficacy was terminated at 79.5%  (95% CI, 46.8%-92.1%), and reactogenicity were mainly mild to moderate and transient, with no identified safety concerns.

These findings indicate that the protein-based NVX-CoV2373 is safe, immunogenic, and efficacious in preventing COVID-19 in 12 to 17-year-olds.

Furthermore, neutralizing antibody responses were noninferior compared to adults aged 18 to 25.

A post hoc analyses of immune responses against the more recent Omicron subvariants support potential effectiveness against a broad distribution of future variants.

And the effect of an NVX-CoV2373 booster dose given 5 to 6 months after the primary series is being assessed for all PREVENT-19 study participants, including those exposed to Omicron.

This vaccine is expected to increase uptake in adolescents, more than 22% of whom have not yet received a complete vaccination regimen with mRNA vaccines, wrote these researchers.

.... the potential to protect against new variants suggests that NVX-CoV2373 offers an essential choice for vaccinating younger individuals in the fight against the current COVID-19 pandemic, concluded these researchers.

As of April 26, 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized Novavax COVID-19 vaccine for people aged 12 years and older.

And NVX-CoV2373 co-brand vaccines have received authorizations from more than 43 countries.

While COVID-19 vaccinations have slowed in the U.S., Novavax's partner in India is ramping up production for its version, known as CovoVax™.

ANI News reported that on April 24, 2023, the Serum Institute of India confirmed that about 5-6 million doses of CovoVax were recently produced to meet future demand in Inda, which has experienced a COVID-19 resurgence.