Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Encouraging Results

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 5, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Maryland-based Novavax said Tuesday that preliminary trials of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine were promising.

In one study, 56 people made high levels of antibodies against COVID-19 with no adverse side effects. In a second study, the vaccine protected monkeys from COVID-19 infection.

It is not possible to compare the data from clinical trials of different vaccines, but John Moore, Ph.D., a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine who was not involved in the studies, told The New York Times that these results were the most impressive he had seen and added that “this is the first one I’m looking at and saying, ‘Yeah, I’d take that.'”

In its 33-year history, Novavax has never had a vaccine on the market, but it has received $1.6 billion in federal funding for vaccine development. If the vaccine is effective, the company said it can make 100 million doses by the beginning of 2021 — enough to inoculate 50 million people with the required two doses.

The New York Times Article