Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline have reported promising results from trials of their Covid-19 vaccine, which has proved to be particularly effective against the Omicron strain of coronavirus.
The vaccine targets the original and the beta strains of Covid-19 but was also tested against the more recent Omicron variant. When used as a first dose, it demonstrated a 64.7 per cent efficacy rate against symptomatic infection overall in adults, and was 72 per cent effective against infections caused by Omicron. The vaccine was safe and well-tolerated in a trial of 13,000 people.
When used in people who had already been infected with Covid-19 — a proxy for how it might perform as a booster — the results were better. The vaccine was 75.1 per cent effective against infections overall and had a 93.2 per cent efficacy rate against infections caused by Omicron.