Novavax, Inc.’s NVAX final data from a pivotal phase III study evaluating its coronavirus vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, showed that it was 96.4% effective against mild, moderate and severe disease caused by the original COVID-19 strain in the United Kingdom.The company also announced results from the complete analysis of its phase IIb study in South Africa. In the region marked by a vast majority of strains that are B1.351 escape variants, the vaccine candidate delivered 55.4% efficiency among the HIV-negative study participants.Importantly, both studies conducted by the company have met statistical success parameters. Also, NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated 100% protection against severe disease and significantly reduced mild and moderate diseases across both the studies.Novavax is planning to submit the data for authorization to several regulatory agencies worldwide.Shares of Novavax were up 8.1% on Friday following the announcement of the news on Thursday. In fact, the stock has rallied 81.8% so far this year compared with the industry’s increase of 1.7%.Notably, NVX-CoV2373 demonstrated 86.3% efficacy against the new circulating variant, B.1.1.7/501Y.V1, in the United Kingdom. The primary efficacy endpoint showed an overall vaccine efficacy of 89.7%.We remind investors that in January 2021, Novavax announced that the phase III study evaluating NVX-CoV2373 in the United Kingdom met the primary endpoint, demonstrating a vaccine efficacy of 89.3%.Please note that Novavax is conducting the phase III PREVENT-19 study, which is evaluating the efficacy, safety and immunogenicity of NVX-CoV2373 in the United States and Mexico.We note that several companies have already launched vaccines for fighting the COVID-19 virus.Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson’s JNJ single-dose COVID-19 vaccine candidate was granted Conditional Marketing Authorization by the European Commission, making it the fourth COVID-19 vaccine to be available in Europe.J&J’s vaccine was granted Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA last month.Notably, other available vaccines include Pfizer PFE/BioNTech’s BNT162b2, Moderna’s MRNA mRNA-1273 and AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.Zacks RankNovavax currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 77 billion devices by 2025, creating a $1.3 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 4 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2022.Click here for the 4 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Get Free Report Pfizer Inc. (PFE): Get Free Report Moderna, Inc. (MRNA): Free Stock Analysis Report Novavax, Inc. (NVAX): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.