A fifth COVID-19 vaccine is scheduled to enter a Phase III clinical trial in the coming weeks with 30,000 participants in the United States and Mexico.
Novavax announced it is beginning to enroll volunteers for the experimental vaccine, according to the American Pharmacists Association. The placebo-controlled study will be conducted at 115 different sites. About two-thirds of the participants will receive the vaccine in two doses three weeks apart. The other participants will receive a placebo.
Funding for the research is provided through Operation Warp Speed. The Novavax vaccine itself includes an adjuvant derived from the bark of an evergreen tree that is native to Chile. It includes proteins that resemble "spike" proteins found on the surface of the coronavirus. They are used to generate an immune response to the coronavirus following an injection.
Despite two vaccines already available, there is a need for additional vaccines.
"We've come this far, this fast, but we need to get to the finish line," Francis S. Collins, director of NIH, which is helping to fund the Novavax study, said, the American Pharmacists Association reported. "That will require multiple vaccines using different approaches to ensure everyone is protected safely and effectively from this deadly disease."
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