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New results and case study released for record-breaking COVID-19 vaccine trial involving Devon residents

The Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trial, delivered locally by the NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Exeter and involving over 500 volunteers from in and around Exeter, has now published a new set of promising results.

The latest data indicates the vaccine offers 100% protection against severe disease, 96% efficacy against original strain of COVID-19 and efficacy against the newer variants of COVID-19 which have been confirmed in the UK and South Africa.

The UK approach to delivering this trial, which involved NIHR Patient Recruitment Centres in Exeter, Bradford and Blackpool, has now been lauded as an unparalleled success in a recently published NIHR case study: 'UK leads rapid delivery of Novavax Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial'.

The trial completed recruitment in record time and it is the largest double blind, placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trial to be undertaken in the UK to date. 545 volunteers took part in the trial in Exeter at the Nightingale Hospital Exeter and the new NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital. The trial was supported by staff from the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Exeter, the University of Plymouth, local GPs and NIHR teams.

The UK public can continue to support the national effort to speed up vaccine research and receive more information about volunteering for future vaccine studies by visiting www.nhs.uk/researchcontact.

The UK government has already secured 60 million doses of the Novavax NVX-CoV2373 vaccine. Provided it meets standards on safety, effectiveness and quality, the vaccine will be manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) at its facility in Barnard Castle, County Durham.

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