In a positive development, United States (US) based pharmaceutical majors Novavax and Johnson & Johnson (J&J) have announced the encouraging results of the phase three trials of their respective COVID-19 vaccines, reports Economic Times.

While Novavax's NVX-CoV2373 vaccine has demonstrated a 90 per cent efficacy in the trials conducted in the United Kingdom (UK), J&J's single-dosage vaccine has demonstrated an overall efficacy of 66 per cent, and 85 per cent efficacy in preventing deaths (severe disease) across all age and ethnic groups.

Speaking about Novavax's vaccine, Clive Dix, the chair of UK Vaccine Taskforce said, "The efficacy shown against the emerging variants is also extremely encouraging." He added, "This is an incredible achievement that will ensure we can protect individuals in the UK and the rest of the world from this virus."

Meanwhile, it should be noted that both, Novavax and J&J have also tied up with Indian vaccine manufacturers to produce and supply their vaccines. While Novavax has tied up with Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII), J&J has tied up with Hyderabad based Biological E.

Serum Institute's chief Adar Poonawalla took to Twitter to share that the company has applied for starting trials of the Novavax vaccine in India and that he expects to launch the vaccine in country by June 2021.