A new vaccine against COVID is 100% effective in preventing the hospitalization of COVID-19 during a clinical trial, vaccine manufacturers Sanofi and GSK said in a press release on Wednesday. As promising data emerges, companies plan to seek permission from the US Food and Drug Administration and regulatory authorities in Europe.
The two-dose vaccine was also 75% effective in preventing “moderate or severe” COVID-19 disease in phase 3 of the study, and 57.9% effective against symptomatic disease. This is in line, the companies said, with the expected effectiveness of the vaccine at a time when options for concern (such as delta and omicron) were dominant.
The vaccine is also effective as a booster for people who have been vaccinated with another COVID-19 vaccine, the companies said. They will also ask the FDA and other regulators to consider him a candidate for reinforcement.
According to the New York Times, the number of people infected with COVID-19 in the study is small and the effectiveness of the vaccine may have been lower in a larger study. The full results of the vaccine as a primary series and as a booster will be published later this year, the companies said.
The new vaccine can be a particularly useful tool in the fight against COVID-19, as it uses technology different from other COVID vaccines, including Pfizer or Moderna (mRNA) or Johnson & Johnson (viral vector vaccine). The Sanofi-GSK vaccine is a protein-based vaccine that is a common type of vaccine that has been used for many years for shingles, hepatitis and others.
Novavax, a similar vaccine, sent data to the FDA for approval last month.
The Sanofi-GSK vaccine was funded by Operation Warp Speed. However, progress has been slow in 2020, when the vaccine failed to elicit a strong immune response in the elderly. Then the companies started working on a stronger version.
Sanofi and GSK are two of many companies working on COVID-19 vaccines, including some that have announced plans for variant-specific boosters. Some scientists have expressed greater interest in developing pan-coronavirus vaccines like this one is being developed by the US Armywhich is not targeted to specific strains or variants of the coronavirus.
Read more: This is how long your COVID vaccine booster provides protection
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