The world could be on the verge of having two more vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but virus variants popping up worldwide are forcing vaccine-makers to develop boosters for a disease that’s constantly changing and could remain active for years.
Vaccines made by Moderna Inc. and the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE partnership are already in use. Meanwhile, new studies show that two more — from Johnson & Johnson and Novavax Inc. — pack potent punches against early forms of the virus, potentially paving the way for quick authorizations in the U.S. for J&J’s vaccine and in the U.K. for Novavax’s shot.
Now comes the bad news: Mutations that likely confer partial resistance to vaccines and antibody treatments are now prevalent in both South Africa and Brazil, and they are threatening to spread worldwide. The J&J shot was found in a late-stage trial to be 72% effective in the U.S., but that fell to 57% in studies done in South Africa. Novavax’s shot, 89% effective in the U.K., was only 49% effective in South Africa.