WE Online, Washington –
Novavax Inc’s Covid-19 vaccine has a 51 percent efficacy against infections caused by the South African variant among people who are not infected with HIV (an immune-attacking virus).
The Novavax vaccine also worked 43 percent in a cohort that includes HIV positive people, according to a new analysis published on Wednesday (5/5/2021).
Also Read: Ministry of Health: Novavax Vaccine Until Pfizer Enter In Half-Two 2021
The South African variant, known as B.1.351, carries mutations that threaten the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine, several studies have shown. Most vaccine makers, including Novavax, are testing versions of their vaccines to protect against emerging variants.
Novavax’s advanced analysis was published in the New England Journal of Medicine along with full data from the company’s South African trial, which included nearly 2,700 volunteers who were not previously infected with the coronavirus.
Results announced in January showed a 60.1 percent efficacy against Covid-19 symptoms in a South African trial that looked at a mixture of the original virus and a South African variant among those who were HIV negative.
Efficacy was 49.4 percent among the mixed group of HIV positive and HIV negative participants. The study also showed that previous infection with an earlier version of the virus did not reduce the risk of Covid-19 caused by the South African variant among people who got the placebo injection.
The mean age of the trial volunteers was 32. Most cases were mild to moderate.
The study did not provide data on the efficacy of the Novavax vaccine in preventing severe disease or hospitalization.
Yet efficacy in preventing disease severity is one of the most important factors in determining vaccine usefulness, said Dr Peter English, a retired consultant in infectious disease control and former chair of the British Medical Association’s Committee on Public Health Medicine.
“Most vaccines are less effective at preventing minor illness than preventing serious illness. So whether this vaccine could be much more effective at preventing hospital admissions and death, we don’t know yet,” said English, who was not involved in the study.
The main aim of this trial is to test how the vaccine works in people who are HIV negative, as well as those who are HIV positive and are medically stable. Of those evaluated, 94 percent were HIV negative and 6 percent were HIV positive.
John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York who was not involved in the study, said he was not surprised that efficacy was lower among volunteers with HIV.
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