PLANT INGREDIENT IS KEY DIFFERENCE
THE Novavax vaccine works like others by teaching the immune system to make antibodies to attack the coronavirus.
Researchers inserted a modified gene into a virus called a baculovirus, and allowed it to infect insect cells.
Spike proteins from these cells were then assembled into nanoparticles which look like coronavirus to the human immune system but cannot replicate or cause Covid-19.
These nanoparticles are then injected into the body via the vaccine and the immune system triggers an antibody response.
If the body encounters coronavirus in future, it is already primed to destroy it more effectively.
Novavax differs from those currently being used in the UK as it combines an engineered protein from the coronavirus with a plantbased ingredient so that it can help generate a stronger immune response.
While the jabs from Pfizer/ BioNTech and Moderna need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures, the Novavax jab can stay three months in a normal refrigerator.
Trials were carried out in the UK when the new Covid-19 variant was first observed in Kent and began to circulate widely.
More than 15,000 people in the UK took part in the clinical tests, which were supported by our National Institute for Health Research.
Against the original strain that has circulated since the start of the pandemic, the vaccine was found to be 96 per cent effective.
In the South African arm of the trial, where most cases of Covid-19 were the newer local strain, the jab was 60 per cent effective in preventing mild, moderate and severe coronavirus.