UK launches new Covid-19 booster vaccine trial this week
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The UK has launched a new £19.3m trial that will trial seven vaccines to see the effects of a third booster jab in protecting patients longer term.
The results of the trial “will help inform decisions by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on plans for a booster programme from autumn this year”, the Department of Health said.
The study, which is being led by the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, will measure the immune responses of trial participants at days 28, 84, 308 and 365 after they get their third jab.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “We will do everything we can to future-proof this country from pandemics and other threats to our health security, and the data from this world-first clinical trial will help shape the plans for our booster programme later this year.
“I urge everyone who has had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, and is eligible, to sign up for this study and play a part in protecting the most vulnerable people in this country and around the world for months and years to come.”
The government has said in the past that pharmaceutical companies are working on booster jabs that will be able to protect against new Covid variants, such as the South African and Indian strains.
Booster vaccines being used in this trial are from Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Valneva, Janssen and Curevac.
Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam said health officials did not yet know how often people will need to have booster Covid-19 jabs in the future to maintain protection.
The UK has now vaccinated more than 70 per cent of its adult population.
This means 39.99m people have receiving one jab, with 20.87 of them having received a second jab.