Us company Novavax announced on Monday the results of large-scale trials of its Covid-19 vaccine in the US and Mexico, finding that its two-shot inoculation provides potent protection against the coronavirus. In the 29,660 person trial, the vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of 90.4% on par with the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. The protein-based vaccine was more than 93% effective against the more easily transmissible predominant variants, Novavax said. While the trial was being conducted, Alpha variant that was first found in the UK was the most common strain, it said. The variants first identified in Brazil, South Africa and India were also detected among participants, Novavax's head or research, Dr. Gregory Glenn said. The vaccine was 91% effective among volunteers at high risk of severe infection and 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe cases. It was roughly 70% effective against variants that Novavax was unable to identify, Glenn said. Novavax said the jab was generally well tolerated. Side effects included headache, fatigue muscle pain. Novavax said it may not seek approval from USFDA until the end of September. It is also applying in UK. PM Boris Johnsom delayed his plants to lift Covid-19 lockdown restrictions by a month on Monday, warning that the more infectious Delta variant meant if he did nothing thousands more people might die. Under the final stage of a plan outlined by Johnson in February, he had hoped to lift most restrictions on June 21, meaning pubs, restaurants, and other hospitality venues could fully reopen. That much-anticipated step was pushed back to July 19. The extra time would be used to speed up Britian's vaccination programme by shortening the recommended time between doses for those aged over 40 to eight weeks from 12 weeks.
