Novavak Says Omicron Vaccine Shows Strong Immune Response To Second Booster

Illustration of the COVID-19 vaccination. (Wikimedia Commons/Vocería de Gobierno)

JAKARTA - Vaccine manufacturer Novavax Inc., said on Tuesday, its retooled COVID-19 vaccine against the Omicron BA.1 variant, showed a strong immune response as the fourth dose and met the primary goal of strain change in a late-stage study.

Data shows the injection, NVX-CoV2515, produces 1.6 times the amount of neutralizing antibody in people not previously exposed to COVID-19, compared to Novavax's original coronavirus vaccine.

The trials include the so-called Novavax bivalent vaccine, an injection adapted to the BA.1 varan and a prototype vaccine.

Novavax said the results from the study showed vaccines adapted to Omicron could be changed to target new vaccine variants if necessary.

They further explained that the bivalent vaccine, which is intended to combat the BA.1 version of Omicron and the original strain first detected in China, did not show any benefit over the BA.1-adapted injection or its prototype vaccine.

Meanwhile, the prototype vaccine produced a broad immune response against the original strain of the virus as well as the BA.1 and BA.5 Omicron variants, the data showed, but the company did not disclose details about the level of antibodies produced in this study.

Previously, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June recommended COVID vaccine makers change their booster vaccine 'design', to include components adapted to combat the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

Novavax's COVID vaccine has not yet received approval in the United States as a second booster dose. However, the FDA authorized the use of the injection as a first booster in adults in mid-October.

Novavax, like Moderna Inc., and Pfizer Inc., are also developing combination vaccines that target COVID-19 and influenza.