UK launches third booster dose trial of seven Corona vaccines

UK has launched a new clinical trial that will assess the efficacy of a third ‘booster’ dose of seven different Covid-19 vaccines on patients’ immune responses.

The trial will assess Covid-19 vaccines of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Novavax, Valneva, Janssen and Curevac. The trial, named Cov-Boost, aims to begin in June and recruit 3,000 people of all ages who had their first dose in December or January, to test if this is worthwhile.

It costs 19.3 million pound and is being funded by the UK government and led by the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. The trial will be conducted at 18 sites across the UK, and half doses will also be tested.

Besides data on side-effects and immune responses, the findings will also help vaccine advisers decide if re-vaccinating some people in the autumn is necessary.

The participants will be asked to keep diaries of any side-effects after a third dose, and their immune responses will be tested after one, three and 12 months.