NEXU Science Communications
Published findings from Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine show that Phase I trials deemed the vaccine safe. A study published Wednesday shows that the vaccine elicits an immune response. This is a major stride for the company, which has already secured a massive deal with Canada to provide them with millions of doses of the vaccine.
The study used a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Placebo trials are instances where some patients are given a shot of saline, instead of the medication, and used as a control group. Compared against the control group, those given the vaccine elicited an immune response to SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes COVID. The study also concluded that the vaccine was safe in the trial participants who received it.
The trial’s participants were all under the age of 60 and were selected from two areas in Australia. Trial participants reported few if any symptoms from the vaccine.
One reported a mild fever after the second shot, 35 days after the first, but it subsided after a day. This mildness of side effects is a huge boon for Novavax, who have seen their stock prices steadily rising in response to news of the vaccine’s success.
After the second dose of the vaccine, all participants who received it developed neutralizing antibodies. Those who received the vaccine and an immune booster had antibodies at levels that were between six and four times greater than people who recovered from COVID-19.
This means that Novavax’s vaccine might be four to six times more effective at stopping the spread of the virus than natural resistance would be.
Antibodies are special proteins used by the body to slow and stop viruses and bacteria. Typically, the body creates antibodies when a person recovers from an infection by a virus or bacteria. The body “learns” the genetic makeup of the invader and creates special neutralizing antibodies that can target that disease in the future.
Vaccines work by eliciting this immune response without infecting the patient with the disease. Instead, patients are given an inert version of the disease, which the body then “learns” and creates antibodies for. Unlike arthritis treatment, for instance, vaccines can be long-term solutions to health problems. A vaccine in the population helps to create herd immunity.
Herd immunity is a term used for when a majority of people in a population have an immunity to a disease through antibodies. This is why diseases like malaria and the flu don’t spread as rapidly as COVID-19 has: many people in the human population already have antibodies for them and don’t act as carriers for the disease.
