THE first volunteers in a world-first Covid-19 vaccine booster trial are set to receive their jabs in Bradford next Tuesday.

The Cov-Boost study, unveiled by Health Secretary Matt Hancock last week, is being rolled out at 18 study sites supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), across the UK.

Bradford will now be the first site to go live, with the team at Bradford Institute for Health Research, based at Bradford Royal Infirmary, rolling out the study.

Thousands of volunteers across the UK – including almost 150 from Bradford - will receive a booster Covid-19 vaccine in the new clinical trial, which is backed by £19.3 million of government funding through the Vaccines Taskforce.

Seven different vaccines are being trialled and this will be the first study in the world to provide vital data on the impact of a third dose on patients’ immune responses.

It will give scientists from around the globe and the experts behind the UK’s Covid-19 vaccination programme a better idea of the impact of a booster dose of each vaccine in protecting individuals from the virus.

Consultant Respiratory Physician, Professor Dinesh Saralaya will be leading the booster trial in Bradford.

He said: “We are very excited to be the first study site to launch this very important trial; it’s great news for Bradford and our ‘City of Research.’

“We are on target to recruit a total of 148 participants in Bradford, all of whom will play a vital role in helping us discover how the various COVID vaccines work with one another so that we can be well prepared in the autumn when people are offered booster vaccinations.

“Participants will be given a different vaccine to the one they have been given already, and by mixing them in this way, we will find out which combinations are the most effective to give us continued protection against this deadly virus. As we know, vaccines are the only way of out this pandemic and research is vital in the hope of us getting back to normal.”

The other sites, including the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, which is leading the study, will quickly follow in rolling out the study.

The initial findings, expected in September, will help inform decisions by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on plans for a booster programme from autumn this year, ensuring the country’s most vulnerable are given the strongest possible protection over the winter period.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said: “The UK vaccination programme has been one of our nation’s proudest achievements in recent times, with seven in 10 UK adults now having had their first Covid-19 jab. It is vital that we continue to support the world-renowned British research sector that has contributed to its success.

“We will do everything we can to future-proof this country from pandemics and other threats to our health security, and the data from this world-first clinical trial will help shape the plans for our booster programme later this year.

“I urge everyone who has had both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, and is eligible, to sign up for this study and play a part in protecting the most vulnerable people in this country and around the world for months and years to come.”

Participants will be adults in two age categories – those aged 30 to 69 and those aged 69 and over, all of whom have been immunised early on in the vaccination programme.

Chief Investigator and Director of NIHR Southampton Clinical Research Facility Professor Saul Faust said: “This trial will give the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation the important data to inform their recommendations of how to protect the population against any future wave.

“It is fantastic that so many people across the country have taken part in vaccine trials up to now so that we can be in a position to study the effects of boosters, and we hope that as many people as possible over the age of 30 who received their first dose early in the NHS programme will be able to take part.”