Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine shows lower side effects vs. Pfizer-BioNTech’s

Novavax (NVAX) announced preliminary results from the SHIELD-Utah study that showed Novavax’s COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted 2024-2025 Formula targeting the JN.1 strain resulted in fewer and less severe reactogenicity symptoms, when compared with the Pfizer (PFE) – BioNTech (BNTX) (BNT) mRNA 2024-2025 vaccine. This real-world study also showed that the impact of symptoms on daily activities, including work and family responsibilities, was lower in recipients of Novavax’s vaccine. The results were presented at the Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 2025. The SHIELD study found health care workers who received the Novavax vaccine reported significantly fewer reactogenicity events than Pfizer-BioNTech recipients. On average, Novavax recipients experienced 1.7 symptoms versus 2.8 systemic symptoms in Pfizer-BioNTech recipients; 43.8% of Pfizer-BioNTech recipients experienced at least one symptom of Grade 2 or higher compared to 24.2% of Novavax recipients. Local reactogenicity events also showed an absolute difference of 12.5% fewer in Novavax recipients versus Pfizer-BioNTech recipients. The impact of symptoms on daily activities, including work, showed the hours of reduced activity were lower in Novavax recipients versus Pfizer-BioNTech recipients.