NovaVax, South African mutant efficacy 49.4%…

NovaVax vaccine. It can be stored refrigerated at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius and must be inoculated twice. [AFP=연합뉴스]

Vaccines to conquer the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) are being released one after another, but the world again faces a new challenge of mutation. This is because the mutation rate of the virus that throws a’changing ball’ avoiding the vaccine is faster than expected.

NovaVax, a pharmaceutical company based in Maryland, USA, revealed that the efficacy of its vaccine was 89.3% as a result of clinical trials conducted in the UK on the 28th (local time). Among the major vaccines, it is the fourth clinical outcome after Pfizer (95%), Modena (94.5%) and AstraZeneca (62-90%). Korea is also planning to introduce 20 million NovaVaxes in the second half of this year.

NovaVax is conducting clinical trials in the UK, South Africa, the US, and Mexico to see the effects of each virus type. NovaVax said that nearly 90% of the efficacy was confirmed in two vaccinations in a clinical trial conducted in the UK, but the efficacy fell to 49.4% in a clinical trial in South Africa where a variant virus was found. The Washington Post (WP) said that the study is meaningful in that it is the first clinical result that has been conducted on a mutant virus that recently occurred in the UK and South Africa.

Specifically, a total of 62 cases of infection were found in a UK clinical trial with 15,000 people. Of these, 56 infections occurred in the placebo group and 6 infections in the vaccination group. Dividing by virus type, the vaccine efficacy against the existing coronavirus was 95.6%, which was not much different from Pfizer and Modena. In addition, the overall efficacy was somewhat lowered by adding defense (85.6%) against the group suffering from the British mutant virus.

In South Africa (4,400 people), 15 out of 44 infected people were found to have the virus even after receiving the vaccine, and the final efficacy was 49.4%. It is said that 90% of infected people were mutated viruses. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sees a 50% lower limit on vaccine efficacy. NovaVax announced a plan to apply for approval to the UK health authorities first, and to apply for additional clinical results in the United States in April.

Pfizer vaccination is taking place on the 11th in Haifa, Israel. [AFP=연합뉴스]

WP pointed out that NovaVax’s results are “ominous news” for other pharmaceutical companies updating their vaccines against the mutant virus. Pfizer and Modena also conducted additional tests on the British and South African viruses, and they announced that “the efficacy was a bit inferior, but it was still effective.” However, the two companies’ experiments were limited in laboratories such as serum tests and animal tests, not clinical. Accordingly, Pfizer and Modena announced that they will develop a booster (third inoculation) targeting the variant virus.

Johnson & Johnson (Jansen), who has not yet released clinical results, is also reported to be delaying its announcement due to adding data related to the variant virus.

The coronavirus, which spread last year, has caused a number of mutations so far, but among them, the virus that originated in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil in recent years is raising concerns from experts in terms of its spread and disease. In particular, there was a study that the South African virus developed the location and number of spike proteins to avoid existing vaccines. These viruses have spread to 50 countries around the world, and it has been confirmed that all three types have recently entered Korea.

However, experts say that it is better to do it than to not vaccinate at all, even if some of the efficacy decreases. The New York Times (NYT) quoted an expert saying, “As the number of people infected decreases, the ability of the virus to mutate also decreases, so the best way to fight the new strain is to continue vaccination and public health measures.” Told.

Bloomberg News also emphasized, “It is helpful to reduce the spreading power significantly simply by alleviating symptoms with vaccines.”

Reporter Lee Yoo-jung [email protected]