Novavax vaccine trial part 2

[Frazzled2207]

A continuation of the thread for those of us taking part in the Vaccine trial.
Never had a thread continue to part 2 before so quite excited.

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/4048789-novavax-vaccine-trial-anyone-else

My concern about dates is that if it turns out that annual boosters are required, there will certainly be a ‘best before’ date for the vaccinations by when efficacy is no longer guaranteed. So countries could well refuse to let people in if the jabs aren’t recent enough. Therefore the dates will be an essential part of the passport.

My concern is about how long immunity lasts. Like others, I want to stay in the trial, but I feel we do need to know the dates i.e. whether we received the vax in Nov / Dec or March/April.
If I got the live jab in December, I don’t want to have the NHS jab now as it’s too soon (I’m group 8 so likely to be invited shortly). If I decline the NHS jab now in order to stay in the trial, and was in the live group in December then my immunity may be waning by the time everything opens up in June 🤷‍♀️. It’s a gnarly question for sure.
The sensible course if for us all to be unblinded so we can give properly informed consent for the crossover.

It is all getting a bit confusing isn’t it- the bigger more positive picture is that there are now several effective vaccines on the scene. That all said by staying in the trial we know what we are getting. If we go down the usual route in most cases we won’t get a choice.

I have received a text this morning from the London team with a link to what sounds as the same letter that @Cooroo posted.

I am still leaning towards declining an nhs vaccine if I get offered first, in favour of having the two novavax doses earlier (assuming I didn't get the vaccine previously!)

I got an email the other day saying that the vaccine is looking good with a 89.3 % efficacy rate.
They've said that we will be contacted soon to see if we want to be involved in the crossover study. They said vaccinations would be end of March/start of April.

I'm still a bit miffed not to have heard anything further especially hearing on here about younger and younger people being called up. I think they are mostly on 50s round here and I am 40s...

Regarding the proposed vaccine passport, am now thinking that given how quickly the UK is getting through everyone, perhaps they might not need to authorise novavax domestically (although I'm sure some other countries will). I know the UK has ordered 60 million but they could sell/give to another country. If it doesn't get approved by the MHRA for some reason, then perhaps it wouldn't 'count' as part of the vaccine passport. Perhaps I'm worrying unnecessarily. But am hoping I get a date soon and then more opportunities for question asking.

That's an interesting thought @Frazzled2207. I think you are right to be thinking in this way. We need to be on the ball with these things.

I'm hoping to get a date soon too.

Has anyone heard anything from Hexham? I spoke to someone a few weeks ago when they were waiting for approval for the crossover trial. But nothing since. But then I don't think they do email updates, so maybe that's why. I have my 4th appointment next week so hopefully I'll get a date then.

I have had an email from Bournemouth saying that they will be posting out new address labels for our swab kits if we get symptoms and that the swabs will now be genome tested as well.

Nothing about the crossover trial, but I am there on Monday so will ask then.

I hear you @Frazzled2207 I am getting impatient, too.

Frustrated here too. No chance of anything from the NHS anytime soon and I'm back with unmasked hordes of teens on Monday....

I was also thinking if Novavax vaccine will be used in the UK after all, seeing the speed of the vaccine roll out, and it's not even approved yet. People in early 50s are being vaccinated around here.

On the vaccine passport front, I think the vaccine passport (for travelling abroad) should be something of international nature, some standard format or bar codes co-ordinated by many countries, accepted globally, rather than domestic ones. Airlines will probably want to check their passengers are vaccinated before boarding, and destination countries want to check it on arrival. It's frustrating when there are more questions than answers!

@Woventabby
yes I think you're right and there are some international discussions taking place. In everyone's interests to have a standard system rather than a patchwork but it might all be a bit bitty when it starts.

But would still like reassurance that if I get novavax (or of course I could have already had it) that it will 'count' even if not approved by the UK or elsewhere. It hasn't been actually been approved yet by anyone has it.

If the vaccine doesn’t get approved by the MHRA, it will be because the data aren’t good enough (but they are!), not because we don’t need any more vaccine. It is the manufacturer who puts in the application, and I don’t see why they wouldn’t do that in a country that had agreed to buy millions of doses! Although the approval process may be slower if there has been some kind of acccelerated emergency pathway followed for the others.

But yes, I’m feeling the same frustration as everyone else about the lack of communication regarding the crossover. As I’m late 40s, I’m likely to be invited by the NHS at pretty much the same time as the crossover jabs now!

good points @QueenOfThorns

I found an article earlier that reminded me that the MHRA agreed to do a 'rolling' review of novavax as they have done with other vaccines so hopefully it will happen

I'm early 50s, as is DH, and no NHS invitation yet....

@Frazzled2207

good points *@QueenOfThorns*

I found an article earlier that reminded me that the MHRA agreed to do a 'rolling' review of novavax as they have done with other vaccines so hopefully it will happen

Yes, I think it’s ongoing, so the type of approval they’re going for should hopefully already be determined. It seems odd though that I keep hearing that the J&J vaccine is likely to be approved soon, but nothing about Novavax although I’m sure the data from both were released at around the same time.

Perhaps J&J is first in the queue to be approved - tbh if it is a one shot dose then that would make sense.

I'm 60. I booked my NHS appointments on Sunday evening as soon as they were available for my age group and rang the Novavax people on Monday to make an unblinding appointment. Was told that they were starting the crossover trial on 22 March and if I chose to join I would get info and appointments early next week. Given those timings It would mean I would have both vaccinations done approx 6 weeks earlier than if I stuck with the NHS - assuming I haven't had the real thing already. So I've told them I will take part in the crossover. If there's any delay from Novavax, I'll duck out and go back to the NHS.

@QueenAnnesHat
That sounds good. The 22nd is still realistic then hopefully we'll hear soon,

Thanks for the update @QueenAnnesHat hopefully we'll get news next week then. I'm 39 so won't be getting an NHS one for a while, but am also very impatient so would like to know what's going on. March will fly by, I'm sure.

Been to Cheadle this morning. There has been a 1 week delay in starting the crossover trial so it's now w/c 29th March. I declined the NHS vaccine to stay in the trial so was told that decliners go up the list in the crossover trial. We should receive new labels for the PCR tests as they are now sharing information with PHE. Appointments should be coming soon though

Ooh just had an email (Stockport). Will be end of March they say- just finalising dates for the venue.

I've received this email from the Leeds study today;

Dear Novavax Participant,

We hope this email finds you well.

Firstly, we would like to say a huge thank you for your continued support of the study; the team have been overwhelmed by your positive commitment.

We are delighted to be able to share more information about the Novavax cross-over study. The attached document is the official communication from Novavax, please do take time to read this.

There are now 2 groups of participants in the Novavax trial: those that remain blinded and those that have been unblinded after an offer of an approved COVID vaccine.

The cross-over study only applies to those that remain blinded to their treatment allocation.

For those who have been unblinded please attend your 6 month follow-up appointment as booked.

For blinded participants we plan to start the cross-over study after the Easter holiday. As soon as we have the dates confirmed we will be in touch to book appointments. The plan will be to call you back for another day 0 and day 21 visit (with a vaccination happening at each visit). This will replace your 6 month follow up visit. After this we will see you again at the original 12 month time point starting in October.

We expect this to take to take place at the Thackray Medical Museum, as with the 3 month follow-up visits.

We are looking forward to seeing you all for the next stages of the study.

With best wishes

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, COVID-19 Vaccine Research Delivery Team

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I've heard nothing from Chorley.