A coronavirus vaccine made by Maryland biotech company Novavax proved effective at stopping symptomatic infections in global hot spots where concerning variants are dominant, the company announced Thursday. But warning signs lurked amid those findings: The protective effect of the vaccine was substantially muted in South Africa, where a worrisome virus variant is in wide circulation.
The data, presented by a company news release, is ominous news for other vaccine developers. They have been scrambling to determine whether current vaccines would remain effective against the variant found in South Africa and are designing new versions in case the virus can break through the protection provided by the shot. The data is the first, highly anticipated evidence of how well a vaccine performs against variants that have drawn global concern.
The company also noted that a third of the participants in its South African trial appeared to have already been infected with the original strain of coronavirus, based on antibodies in their blood when they were vaccinated. Some of those people became infected again, according to the company, suggesting natural immunity generated by an infection might not fully protect against the new variant. Continue reading.