Novavax announced that its COVID-19 vaccine was 90% effective in tests in Mexico and the United States.

The laboratory Novavax reported on Monday that his formula against COVID-19 presented high levels of efficiency and also variant protected in a large late-phase study in the United States and Mexico.

The vaccine candidate had a overall efficiency of about 90.4% and preliminary data has shown it to be safethe company said.

Although the demand for COVID-19 injections in the United States has declined significantly, the need for more vaccines around the world remains critical. The Novavax vaccine, which is easy to store and transport, play an important role in increasing the supply of vaccines in the developing world.

However, there are still months for this help to arrive. The company claims that plans to seek authorization for a vaccine in the United States, Europe and other countries by the end of September and be able to produce up to 100 million doses per month by then.

“Many of our first doses will go to low- and middle-income countries, and that was the original goal.Novavax CEO Stanley Erck told the AP.

While more than half of the American population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, less than 1% of people in the developing world have been vaccinated, according to Our World In Data.

The Novavax study involved nearly 30,000 people aged 18 and over in the United States and Mexico. Two-thirds received two doses of the vaccine, with three weeks apart, and the rest were given placebos.

Have been produced 77 cases COVID-19, but only 14 in the group that received the vaccine. None of the vaccine group members had moderate or severe disease, compared to 14 in the placebo group.

The vaccine was also effective against several variants, including the one first detected in the UK and which is dominant in the US, and in high-risk populations, such as the elderly and people with other health conditions.

The side effects were mostly mild: tenderness and pain at the injection site. There have been no reports of blood clots or unusual heart problems, Erck said.

Novavax published the results in a press release and plans to publish them in a medical journal, where they will be reviewed by independent experts. The Maryland-based company had previously published the results of smaller studies conducted in Britain and South Africa.

COVID-19 vaccines train the body to recognize the coronavirus, especially the spike protein that covers it, and prepare to fight the virus. The Novavax vaccine is made from laboratory-grown copies of this protein.. This is different from some of the other vaccines in use today, which include genetic instructions for the body to make its own spike protein.

The Novavax vaccine can be stored in normal refrigerators, which facilitates distribution. Novavax previously announced manufacturing delays due to supply shortages. The company now plans to achieve production of 100 million doses per month by the end of September and 150 million doses per month in December.

The company has committed to deliver 110 million doses to the United States over the next year and a total of 1.1 billion doses to developing countries.

In May, the Gavi vaccine alliance announced it had signed an agreement to purchase 350 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with deliveries scheduled to begin in the third quarter. COVAX, the global initiative to deliver vaccines to countries, faces a severe vaccine shortage after its largest supplier in India suspended exports until the end of the year,

Novavax has been working on vaccine development for over three decades, but has not brought any to the market. The company’s work on coronavirus vaccines is funded in part by the United States government.

(With AP information)

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