The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)-supported Novavax Phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial has achieved its recruitment target of 15,203 volunteers just two months after opening in the UK – including 482 participants from Northern Ireland.
This is the first COVID-19 vaccine trial to take place in Northern Ireland and the number recruited surpassed the original target of 350.
Recruitment closed on Friday 27 November at its Belfast site, where staff have been working round the clock to reach the target.
The Novavax study is the largest double-blind, placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trial to be undertaken in the UK so far.
The Belfast site is one of a number across the UK to host the trial, which is investigating the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373 – a stable, prefusion protein antigen derived from the genetic sequence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spike (S) protein and adjuvanted with Novavax’s proprietary Matrix M™.