Nottingham University Hospitals are looking for volunteers to participate in a new study to find a COVID-19 vaccine.
This new study began on May 22nd in the Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire area.
The study is being led by the University of Oxford and will assess if healthy people can be protected from the coronavirus with a new vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
Anyone who is at least 18 years old, in good health, and based in one of the 13 locations taking part, including the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire or Leicestershire areas, are able to take part.
As long as they have not tested positive for COVID-19, are not pregnant or breastfeeding, and have not previously taken part in a trial with an adenoviral vaccine or received any other coronavirus vaccines.
Researchers are hoping to recruit over 10,000 people for the entire study during the next phase, which they hope will include at least 250 people locally.
The purpose of this study is to test the new vaccine in healthy volunteers to gain information about the safety of the vaccine, and its ability to generate good immune responses against the virus.
They will randomly allocate participants either the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or a Men ACWY vaccine, in addition to blood tests and will track any symptoms that occur after vaccination.
The study is being managed by The Cripps Health Centre, which is based on the University of Nottingham campus, but they are being supported by the Nottingham University Hospitals with laboratory processes and analytics through their NIHR Nottingham Clinical Research Facility.
The study is expected to last 12 months, and participants will be required to make 6-12 visits to the Nottingham University Hospitals, depending on the group size.
Vaccine appointments usually last 90 minutes and follow up appointments should take approximately 20 minutes.
Although there are no direct benefits of taking part, all knowledge gained from the study will help the development of a vaccine against coronavirus.
Rachel Webster, who is on behalf of NUH NHS Trust, told Platform: “Assessments are taking place this week, so we won’t know for a few more days how many people have successfully been recruited.”
By Laycie Beck
Featured photo credit: Pixabay.