There are many indications that another vaccine against Covid-19 will be approved for mass production and global distribution later this year. The US company Novavax Inc has announced that Phase 3 trials are now underway for a new vaccine that is 90% effective against a range of different variants of the coronavirus.

The vaccine has been tested on 30,000 volunteers in the United States and Mexico, allowing it to apply for emergency authorization in the United States and other countries in the third quarter of this year.

Novavax’s protein-based candidate for Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective against the dominant coronavirus variants that are of concern to scientists and public health officials worldwide.

Protein-based vaccines are a conventional approach that uses purified virus fragments to stimulate an immune response. Same approach has been employed with whooping cough and shingles vaccines.

During testing, the B.1.1.7 variant, first discovered in Great Britain, became the most widespread variant in the United States. Novavax also discovered COVID-19 variants among participants in its research found for the first time in Brazil, South Africa and India.

According to the head of research and development, Dr. Gregory Glenn, the vaccine was 91% effective among volunteers at high risk of severe infection and 100% effective in preventing moderate to severe cases of COVID-19. It was approximately 70% effective against COVID-19 variants that Novavax was unable to identify. Therefore, it is highly effective against new virus variants that appear in different places around the globe.

According to the manufacturer, the vaccine was well tolerated by the volunteers participating in the studies. Side effects included headache, fatigue, and muscle pain, and were generally mild. A small number of study participants experienced side effects described as severe.

Novavax vaccine production could reach 100 million doses per month by the end of the third quarter of 2021 and 150 million doses per month in the fourth quarter of 2021.

The Maryland-based company repeatedly shifted production forecasts as it struggled to access the raw materials and equipment needed to make the vaccine.

However, in a May interview with investors, chief executive Stanley Erck said major production hurdles had been removed and that all of his facilities could now produce the COVID-19 vaccine on a commercial scale.

Erck said Novavax has started filing regulatory applications in India in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, which has a contract to produce Novavax vaccines. According to him, the Serum Institute of India is no longer limited by the shortage of raw materials. As reported by the Serum Institute of India, US export restrictions on supplies used for vaccines previously limited its ability to increase production.

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