Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

March 3, 2021

Preliminary Efficacy of the NVX-CoV2373 Covid-19 Vaccine Against the B.1.351 Variant

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  • [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] Results from a multicenter, randomized, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial in South Africa of the NVX-CoV2373 (Novavax) nanoparticle vaccine indicated that among 2,684 participants who were SARS-CoV-2 seronegative at baseline (94% HIV-negative; 6% people living with HIV), vaccine efficacy was 49.4%, with 15 and 29 predominantly mild to moderate COVID-19 cases in vaccine and placebo recipients, respectively. Efficacy in HIV-negative participants was 60.1% and did not differ by baseline SARS-COV-2 serostatus. Of the primary endpoint COVID-19 cases with available whole genome sequencing, 38 (92.7%) of 41 were the B.1.351 variant.
  • One notable finding from the study was that among placebo recipients, the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 was similar in those with and without evidence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 at baseline during the first 2 months of follow-up (5.3% vs 5.2%).  The authors conclude that this suggests prior infection provided no protection against developing clinical disease when infected with the B.1.351 variant.

Shinde et al. (Mar 3, 2021). Preliminary Efficacy of the NVX-CoV2373 Covid-19 Vaccine Against the B.1.351 Variant. Pre-print downloaded Mar 3 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.25.21252477