The US-based Pharmaceutical NovaVax has claimed its vaccine is 90% effective against coronavirus disease according to the result of its clinical trials in the United States.

The late-stage trials of the vaccine were conducted around 30,000 volunteers in the US and Mexico.

Novavax’s protein-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate was more than 93 percent effective against the predominant variants of COVID-19 that have been of concern among scientists and public health officials, Novavax said.

The alpha variant (UK variant) was the most common in the trials. 

Novavax also detected variants of COVID-19 first found in Brazil, South Africa, and India among its trial participants, Novavax’s head of research and development, Dr. Gregory Glenn, told Reuters.

The vaccine was 91 percent effective among volunteers at high risk of severe infection and 100 percent effective in preventing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19. It was roughly 70 percent effective against COVID-19 variants that Novavax was unable to identify, Glenn said.

“Practically speaking, it’s very important that the vaccine can protect against a virus that is wildly swinging around” in terms of new variants, Glenn said.