ALSO READ: Covid-19 vaccines prevented over 42 lakh Covid-19 deaths in India in 2021, says Lancet study. Details here The results were stronger when the vaccines were used in people who previously had COVID.
The firms said that the vaccine generated an efficacy rate of 75.1 per cent against symptomatic COVID and 93.2 per cent in Omicron-confirmed symptomatic cases. "Sanofi-GSK’s vaccine is the first candidate to demonstrate efficacy in a placebo-controlled trial in an environment of high Omicron variant circulation," Sanofi said in a statement.
Earlier in June, the bivalent vaccine showed potential in two trials to protect against the virus' main variants of concern -- the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains -- when used as a booster shot, reported Reuters.
Both Sanofi and GSK -- world's leading vaccine makers -- are hoping to gain a foothold in the market for next-generation variant-focused COVID shots, after falling behind competitors including Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech. ALSO READ: Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 nasal vaccine phase III trials completed The new data supporting the bivalent vaccine will be submitted to regulatory authorities soon, the firms said, adding they hope to make the shot available later in 2022.