303 people across Morecambe Bay have volunteered to take part in a clinical trial for the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine, which has now shown to be almost 90% effective in preventing coronavirus.
Andrew Higham, Consultant Physician, UHMBT, said: "We're so pleased that UHMBT could be involved in the Novavax trial and continue to play our part in the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
"Vaccines are a very effective way to prevent infections, like coronavirus, and trials are incredibly important so that we can find out which possible new vaccine works best.”
In data published on 28 January 2021, the Novavax vaccine has shown to be 89.3% effective at preventing coronavirus in participants in its Phase 3 clinical trial in the UK which involved more than 15,000 people aged 18-84, 27% of which were older than 65.
The vaccine will now need to be approved for use by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), who will assess whether the vaccine meets robust standards of safety, effectiveness and quality.
Andrew continued: “We’d like to thank the hundreds of people that have sacrificed their time since November 2020 to participate in this trial held at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary. The results are promising and help us to look forward to the next steps in our fight against COVID-19”.
For more information about the findings of the Novavax clinical trial, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/novavax-publishes-positive-efficacy-data-for-its-covid-19-vaccine