People in good health and over the age of 55 years old are being asked to take part in a COVID-19 vaccine trial.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the University of Glasgow are supporting the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine trials.

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The organisations are now recruiting approximately 200 people to join the trial, with approximately 100 people needed aged 55 – 65, and 100 people needed over the age of 65.

This will be in addition to the 412 people who are already taking part, which includes NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and care staff who have worked in COVID-19 clinical areas.

The trial involves NHS and institutions across the UK and aims to assess how well people across a broad range of ages could be protected from COVID-19 with this new vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. It will also provide valuable information on safety aspects of the vaccine and its ability to generate good immune responses against the virus.

The results of the Phase I/II trial were published last month in the scientific journal, The Lancet, and indicate no early safety concerns and a strong immune response in both parts of the immune system.

Participants are randomised to receive one or two doses of either the new ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine or a licensed meningitis vaccine (MenACWY) that will be used as a ‘control’ for comparison.

Participants will be involved in the trial for the next 12 months and will be supported by NHSGGC and University of Glasgow researchers throughout its duration.

Screening and vaccination of participants will take place in the coming weeks. For anyone looking to take part, please visit: https://www.covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/participate-glasgow

Dr Julie Brittenden, Research and Development Director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “We are proud to be able to contribute to this world-leading clinical trial as we try to find an effective vaccine for COVID-19.

“We are now looking for additional participants to take part in the COVID-19 vaccine trial. If you are healthy and over the age of 55 years old, we hope to hear from you.”

Dr Jennifer Armstrong, Medical Director of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “We’re proud to have NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde join the global effort in finding an effective vaccine for COVID-19. Our dedicated team of health and care staff have put patients first every step of the way as we responded to this virus.

“I’m proud of those who have got involved in research that will hopefully help patients, staff and society as a whole in future.”

Emma Thomson, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Co-Principle Investigator and Consultant in Infectious Diseases at NHSGGC, said:

"An effective vaccine for COVID-19 is likely to be required alongside public health measures to achieve global elimination of the disease. We know that older people in the population are particularly vulnerable and therefore it is important that we carry out clinical trials to assess safety and immune responses in this group. We are grateful to all our volunteer participants for contributing to the efforts to find a vaccine to protect those most at risk."

Professor Andrew Smith, Co-Principle Investigator, University of Glasgow said: “As we continue to battle the COVID19 pandemic it is very important that we move the vaccine studies onto age populations that are at heightened risk of adverse outcomes. Early trial data has been promising so we would encourage those older than 55 years of age, especially from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups to consider volunteering for this vaccine trial.”

Enquiries: ali.howard@glasgow.ac.uk or elizabeth.mcmeekin@glasgow.ac.uk / 0141 330 6557 or 0141 330 4831

First published: 11 August 2020

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