a second vaccine has shown to be
effective in major trials in just
24 hours the latest is the jansen
vaccine it's 66
effective overall and only needs a
single dose
and crucially it is 85 percent effective
against severe disease
last night novavax announced uk trials
had shown its vaccine to be 89
effective and crucially that vaccine
protects against the new more contagious
uk variant
if approved the uk has millions of doses
of both vaccines on order
though they wouldn't be available until
later in the year our medical editor
fergus walsh reports
covid vaccine trials keep delivering
results
beyond all expectations
these volunteers in southampton are
among tens of
thousands worldwide testing the vaccine
from
jansen part of the pharmaceutical giant
johnson and johnson
which will produce 1 billion doses of
its jab
this year we have a single shot vaccine
which can protect
very highly 85 against severe disease
and complete protection against debt and
hospitalization
after day 28 and that's a finding which
was across the world
in all the regions independent of
age and independent of strain
the results from the u.s biotech novavax
are nothing short of spectacular this
site in london
part of a uk wide trial which showed the
vaccine offered
strong protection even against the
contagious new variant
first identified in kent it's very
significant uh because we were able to
show that the vaccine works well
against both the old the original strain
and the new strain
it had 96 efficacy against the original
covid 19 strain
and yet it still had 86 efficacy against
the variance strain
so how do they work the novovax jab
uses proteins from the surface spike of
coronavirus
and combine these with a chemical
booster or
adjuvant the jansen vaccine puts the
gene for the spike protein into a
harmless virus
a similar approach to the oxford
astrazeneca jab
both vaccines primed the immune system
including creating antibodies which will
target coronavirus
in the event of infection the novovax
jab will be manufactured on t
side part of a deal struck last year to
ensure
a steady flow of vaccine the uk has
ordered a hundred million doses of the
oxford astrazeneca vaccine
and 40 million of pfizers both of these
are in limited supply at the moment
the 17 million doses of moderna's
vaccine
won't arrive until the spring then
there's the two vaccines which have just
yielded results 60 million doses
of the novovax jab they'll take a few
months to be delivered
plus 30 million of the single dose
jansen vaccine now if those last two
are approved that'll be enough doses to
immunize
the entire uk population twice over
later this year the uk is likely to have
such a surplus of
covet vaccine it may be giving it away
but for the next few months supply will
be tight
two more vaccines to add to the toolbox
this gives
more resilience and more tools new tools
that were different from the last ones
it means that we can spread the vaccine
around it means that we can really start
to
impact on this pandemic not just here
but right the way across the world
vaccinating one country in a pandemic is
like putting a sticking plaster on a
gaping wound
until the whole world is protected none
of us
truly will be fergus walsh bbc news