Novavax vaccine showed a promising 89.3 percent efficacy rate for COVID-19. (Image via Sky News)

Novovax COVID-19 vaccine shows 89.3 percent efficacy for Indonesia to use

According to the latest study from the third phase of the clinical trial in the U.K, the American-flagged vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) showed 89.3 percent efficacy in protecting people from the symptoms of COVID-19. The study also stated that the Novovax vaccine is effective for widespread and COVID-19 new variant in England. For your information, Novavax is one of the vaccines bought by Indonesia.

Previously, the Indonesian Health Ministry had agreed to use seven variants of the COVID-19 vaccine. They come from Sinopharm (China), AstraZeneca-Oxford (British-Swedish), Pfizer-BioNTech (U.S-Germany), Moderna (U.S), Novavax (U.S), Sinovax (China), and Indonesian-grown "Red and White" vaccine. Moreover, the Indonesian Government had signed a 50 million dosages deal with Novavax.

ABOUT THE NOVOVAX VACCINE

Novovax's COVID-19 vaccine, coded NVX-CoV2373 is developed using recombinant nanoparticle technology. The technology extracts protein, encoded from the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2's protein spike, which is then reproduced in insect cells.

The SARS-CoV-2 in the Novavax vaccine is claimed to be unable to replicate; hence, COVID-19-free. The vaccine is stable in 2-8 degrees Celcius and sent in the form of a ready-to-use liquid. Therefore, it allows distribution using the existing vaccine distribution chain. 

THE STUDY

The 89.3 percent efficacy rate was obtained from the third phase of the clinical trial in England. The study involved more than 15,000 participants aged 18-24, 27 of them were 65 years old. The result showed 62 infections and 15,000 resistances. According to the Wall Street Journal, from 62 COVID-19 patients, half of them contracted the new COVID-19 variant, six had been administered with vaccine and 56 with placebo. For the new COVID-19 strain, the Novovax vaccine showed an efficacy rate of above 50 percent.

According to the British study, Novavax stated that according to the test done on 56 of 62 COVID-19 cases, the vaccine is 95.6 percent effective in battling the primary COVID-19 strain, and 85.6 percent for the new COVID-19 strain. Yet, the data has not undergone the standard review by the experts before being published in medical journals.

Besides England, Novavax also held its trial in South Africa. In the 2B phase trial, Novavax is found only 49.4 percent effective. According to the initial study having involved 4,400 participants, more than 90 percent of the participants had contracted the new variant of COVID-19 which began there. Therefore, Novavax began working on the modification of its vaccine to also battle the new strain of COVID-19.

Source: https://bit.ly/3oBHvkZ