Efficacy and safety of the CVnCoV SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine candidate in ten countries in Europe and Latin America (HERALD): a randomised, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled, phase 2b/3 trial
RCT of the CureVac mRNA vaccine (n=39,680) found an overall vaccine efficacy of 48.2% (95.826%CI 31.0% to 61.4%). Efficacy against moderate to severe disease was 70.7% (95%CI 42.5% to 86.1%). The most frequently adverse event was injection-site pain (83·6%).
Source:
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
SPS commentary:
Given the results, the manufacturers have decided to cease activities on this vaccine candidate.
A related commentary notes that although the efficacy of this vaccine against COVID-19 partly met the vaccine efficacy criteria of WHO (>30% for lower bound 95% CI for efficacy), and the time interval for follow-up of 15 days after receiving the second dose was very short. Whether the humoral immune response waned post-vaccination could not be evaluated within such a short period is nor clear. As it has been withdrawn from regulatory review by its manufacturer, how it would have performed in the real world will now never be known.