Researchers at the Royal United Hospital in Bath are on the lookout for volunteers to join an important new study looking at the use of booster COVID-19 vaccines.
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The study will investigate whether boosters can be given at the same time as flu vaccines.
While there are vaccines that have been approved to protect against COVID-19 in the UK, it is not yet known whether further booster doses may be required to give continued protection, and how giving boosters might fit in with the seasonal flu jab programme.
Research teams at the RUH are joining the ComFluCOV vaccine study to look at the side effects and immune response when people receive their COVID-19 booster and flu vaccine at the same appointment.
Dr Kelly Spencer, RUH Head of Research Operations, said: “The volunteers we recruit at the RUH will be playing a crucial role in the wider global effort to continue to protect people against both COVID-19 and flu in the future, both of which can seriously affect the most vulnerable in society.
“We‘re really proud as a Trust to be involved in this important study and we welcome those who would like to take part.”
The study forms part of a larger programme of research into treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 ongoing at the RUH.
The study will involve people aged 18 years old or over who have received their first COVID-19 vaccination and are awaiting their second dose.
Each participant will receive the second dose of the same COVID-19 vaccine they originally received.
It will look to recruit 504 participants across six NHS sites: The Royal United Hospitals Bath, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, North Bristol NHS Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust and UHBW.
For more information about the study and how to sign up, visit the vaccine trial website at: https://comflucov.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/.
