Posted on 03/16/2021 3:06:22 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
More than 330 million vaccinations have been administered in the fight against Covid-19, and a new vaccine candidate is now ready to enter the ring.
Novavax recently completed its final analyses and will seek FDA and international approval in the coming weeks. The new candidate uses a mechanism to prompt immune responses that is different from vaccines already in circulation, but remains effective against non-variant forms of the virus. Here I discuss the results and implications of the Novavax trials and the vaccine’s performance against surging variants of SARS-CoV-2.
The press release details a United Kingdom trial of 15,000 participants. Against the wild-type strain of the virus, the two-dose vaccine posted 96.4% efficacy. Notably, the vaccine was also 100% effective in preventing severe disease, which included symptoms like tachypnea, high resting heart rate, required ventilation, hospitalization, among others.
Included in those 15,000 participants were also infections via the highly transmissible UK variant of the virus. The vaccine still posted an impressive 86.3% efficacy against the variant, which comes to an overall vaccine efficacy of 89.7% among the 15,000 participant study. Additionally, of non-placebo participants in the trial, only one case of Covid-19 was reported among those 65 and older, a demographic heavily hit by the pandemic.
Novavax also wanted to see how its vaccine would fare against the antibody-resistant South African variant of the virus. Among a participant group of 2,905 adults, the vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of only 48.6% against the predominant B.1.351 variant. While no severe Covid-19 was noted in the vaccine group, these numbers are less encouraging than the UK group. Among HIV-negative adults, the efficacy rises to 55.4%, which is still well below par. This is a consistent theme across the vaccine landscape.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
The Novavax vaccine works by combining a purified spike protein with an adjuvant, or a substance designed to enhance a given immune response.
It is an old technology, but arguably the most direct line of attack we can mount against a virus. Other FDA-approved Covid-19 vaccines employ methods that are certainly innovative and still effective, but on the whole more roundabout approaches to hitting the same target. These include the messenger RNA in the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which instruct human cells to make spike proteins, and the adenovirus vectors in the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca vaccines, which carry instructions for creating anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
That the clinical trials for the Novavax vaccine have yielded such promising results is a great sign, especially given the rise of new variants.
Worth watching
Discussion of Vaccine Immune Escape and what happens if mass vax in a pandemic leads to virus mutations that bypass both vax antibodies as well as natural immune defense
The virus mutates every 10 hours per the virologist above
A basic question: do weapons, specifically bioweapons, have vaccines? One would think that in warfare the first response to an attack is the attempt to neutralize the enemy who is attacking. Please comment.
That’s the vaccine I want. I hope it becomes available quickly.
Correction...Viral Immune Escape
Based on the Volkswagen engine testing protocol..... /sarc
i don’t understand why they are making a vax for corona-19 varient and not corona itself?
or can’t they isolate it?
it can mutate in 10hrs, they’ll be chasing variants forever...
or is that the plan???
Vaccines? This article suggests COVID-19 ‘Vaccines’ Are Experimental Gene Therapy
Dr. Joseph Mercola Ordered to Stop Illegal Claims
Quackwatch
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
July 27, 2020
https://quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola/
“‘That’s the vaccine I want. I hope it becomes available quickly.”
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Compared to the mRNA vaccines, the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine is more like traditional vaccines so I suspect there are many like you. Last year Novavax got $1.6 billion from President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed.
From what I understand it will be approved in the U.K. before too long. I hope that the US health authorities follow without excessive delay.
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