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A new coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be 89.3% effective in large-scale trials in the UK.
The Novavax jab is the first to show in trials that it is effective against the new variant of the virus found in the UK, BBC medical editor Fergus Walsh said.
The Prime Minister welcomed the “good news” and said the UK medicines regulator would now assess the vaccine.
The UK has secured 60 million doses of the jab, which will be manufactured in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England.
The doses are expected to be delivered in the second half of this year, if their use is approved by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the government said.
The UK has so far approved three coronavirus vaccines for emergency use – one from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, another from Pfizer and BioNTech and a third from pharmaceutical company Moderna.
The Novavax vaccine, given in two doses, was found to be 89.3% effective in preventing Covid-19 in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK.
Phase 3 trials – the last step before a vaccine is reviewed by a regulator – recruited more than 15,000 people aged 18 to 84, 27% of whom were over 65, US company Novavax said .
In the South African part of the trial, where most cases were the South African variant of the virus, the vaccine was 60% effective in people without HIV.
Stan Erck, managing director of Novavax, said the results of the UK trial were “spectacular” and “as good as we could have hoped”, while the effectiveness in South Africa was “above the expectations of the people”.
He told the BBC that the Stockton-on-Tees manufacturing plant is expected to be up and running by March or April, with the company hoping to gain approval for the MHRA vaccine at around the same time.
Minister Lucy Frazer told BBC Breakfast that the government could not set a specific deadline for the approval of the Novavax jab because the regulatory process is “beyond our control”.
But she said the NHS would be ‘ready to distribute [the jab] in people’s arms ”as soon as supplies become available.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new vaccine would be “another weapon in our arsenal to defeat this terrible virus”, if approved.
Thanking the researchers and volunteers who participated in the trials, he added: “I am proud that the UK is at the forefront of another medical breakthrough.”
Professor Paul Heath, chief investigator of the Novavax trial in the UK, said the results of the clinical trials were “extremely interesting findings”, especially given the effectiveness of the jab against the UK variant.
Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London, said the findings that the vaccine offered high levels of protection in the UK part of the trial were “excellent” but the lower level of protection observed in South Africa was “of concern”. .
These extremely encouraging test results suggest that another powerful vaccine against the coronavirus may soon be within reach.
It works in a slightly different way than those already available – but does the same job by teaching the body’s immune system to recognize and fight the pandemic virus.
What’s more, it also appears to be effective against emerging and more infectious variants of the coronavirus – something scientists fear may not be possible because the vaccines were all designed to match the original virus, not these new mutated versions.
Even the South African variant, which has undergone the most disturbing changes, can’t seem to be able to escape completely.
Nadhim Zahawi, UK government minister responsible for vaccine deployment, said: “Having been involved in the Novavax vaccine trial myself, I am particularly delighted to see such positive results.”
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer described the results of the trial as “fantastic news” and “another step towards vaccinating Britain”.
In total, the UK has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine – both of which are being rolled out in the UK.
17 million additional doses of the Moderna vaccine, which was approved by the MHRA in early January, are expected in the spring.
The goal is to give each of the first four priority groups – up to 15 million people – a first dose by mid-February.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are based on technology that was not used in previous vaccines, but the Novavax vaccine uses a more traditional method of recreating some of the virus’s spike protein to boost the immune system.
Like the Oxford vaccine, Novavax jab can be stored at normal refrigerator temperature, which means it can be dispensed more easily.
More than 7.4 million people in the UK have so far received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest government figures.
Previously, the Prime Minister and Public Health England (PHE) had defended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, after Germany recommended that it be given only to people under the age of 65.
Dr Mary Ramsay, head of vaccinations at PHE, said the vaccine offered “high levels of protection” against Covid-19, especially serious illnesses.
Separately, the head of the European Commission has demanded the publication of the EU vaccine contract with AstraZeneca, in a growing row due to reduced supplies of their vaccine.
The UK on Thursday recorded 1,239 more deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. There were also 28,680 new infections.
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