Researchers praise Dorset volunteers for joining COVID-19 vaccine trial

Researchers have paid tribute to hundreds of volunteers from Dorset for their role in supporting COVID-19 vaccine research.

Almost 600 Dorset volunteers took part in the latest NIHR-supported trial, helping to test the safety and effectiveness of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by US-based biotechnology firm Novavax.

Interim analysis of Phase 3 study data has now shown the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine to be 89.3% effective at preventing COVID-19.

The vaccine, which was trialled at the Dorset Research Hub at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, was also shown to be effective against the new variants of concern.

The interim efficacy and safety data will be submitted to all regulators across the world - including the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the UK - for independent scrutiny and product approval.

The NIHR-supported Novavax study is the largest ever double blind, placebo-controlled trial to be undertaken in the UK. It recruited over 15,000 participants from 35 UK research sites in just over two months.

More than 25 percent of those enrolled in the Novavax trial were over the age of 65, while a large proportion of volunteers had underlying medical conditions generally representative of the population.

A significant proportion of participants taking part in the study were recruited through the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry - an online registry of over 390,000 people who have signed-up to be contacted about taking part in COVID-19 vaccine studies. Latest data from NHS Digital shows that almost 7,000 Dorset residents have signed-up so far.

The UK Vaccines Taskforce and National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network have played vital roles in the rapid recruitment of volunteers to vaccine trials.

Dr Patrick Moore, a Dorset GP and the local NIHR investigator of the study, said:

“It’s fantastic to see the results of the Phase 3 trial, which show that this is a highly effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine – importantly, it also shows that this vaccine is effective against the UK variant that has spread so quickly.

“Almost 600 Dorset residents took part in this trial, and I’d like to thank them all for their contribution to this important research.

“Our county is playing a key part in the global search for COVID-19 vaccines, with the people of Dorset coming together with the NHS to find a way out of this pandemic.”

Laura Purandare, Head of Research & Innovation at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals, University Hospitals Dorset, said:

“COVID-19 vaccine trials would not be possible without volunteers and we want to express our gratitude to the people of Dorset for being a part of this enormous research effort.

“These are brilliant results and we are very proud to have helped Novavax with the development of this vaccine.”

The UK public can continue to support the national effort to speed up vaccine research and receive more information about volunteering for future vaccine studies by visiting www.nhs.uk/researchcontact.

The UK government has already secured 60 million doses of the Novavax NVX-CoV2373 vaccine. Provided it meets standards on safety, effectiveness and quality following publication of results, the vaccine will be manufactured using FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies’s facilities in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees.