LL LIFE
Vaccine trial heroes out in full force to beat COVID By RYAN WYKES
of hours. The yearlong trials, conducted by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, are being run in conjuncture with similar trials in seven other British cities, including Birmingham and London. The aim of these trials is primarily to research the eligibility of a vaccination scheme using multiple vaccines, such as the AstraZeneca and Pfizer variants. The current government rollout requires both the initial vaccine and its subsequent booster to be the same. Dr Helen Hill, senior clinical research associate and chief of operations at the Covid vaccine trials, spoke to Liverpool Life about the ongoing research: “The first question we are trying to ask is if you give a mixed schedule, say a Pfizer followed by AstraZeneca, would be as effective. This would allow the Government to make decisions based on the availability of vaccines, for example if the AstraZeneca vaccine by Oxford were to be more readily available, it might mean that people are offered a booster with that rather than a Pfizer vaccine which might be delayed. “The second question from this study is whether we give the booster after one month or give it after three
months. After one month, at present, we have some data from the previous trials as well as giving the booster after a slightly longer period of time, but those trials were not to intentionally answer this question. “Doing the trial over 12 months is important as what we need to know is whether the vaccine schedule still protects, so we bring people back after those twelve months for blood samples to see, for example, if they still have an antibody response. As you know with the flu vaccine you’re vaccinated annually and there’s nothing to say at the moment how long these vaccines work for.” In Liverpool, 100 volunteers were needed for the trials, with over 800 people applying in just two days. “It’s a particularly popular study because everybody enlisted will get a primary vaccine and a booster.” Liverpool Life spoke to Glyn MÔn Hughes, a journalism lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University accepted for the trials, about his experience as a part of the study. “I just saw it on social media, and followed it all up. I am not sure that I was chosen over others, or how exactly they made the choices, but I do expect that they are looking for a wide range of ages as well as sexes and ethnicities. “I had to talk about medication I take, had my heart and lungs monitored, my liver felt, reflexes tested, sight and hearing tested, and then blood and urine samples taken
“There has been a lot of goodwill from people wanting to contribute something to end the pandemic”
Photo © Hakan Nural on Unsplash
T
he Liverpool vaccine trial has entered its second week of testing after hundreds respond to calls for volunteers in a matter
as well as assessing breathing rate and blood-oxygen levels. That was a pretty thorough MOT. It was then decided that I was fit enough to have an injection which was either a live vaccine or a placebo. I do not know which I had. “I might have been given the Novavax vaccine. The company doing the trial is called Synexus and they
Glyn Môn Hughes, right: volunteered for vaccine trials © Glyn Môn Hughes
Photo © CDC on Unsplash
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are based in Waterloo, in north Liverpool, though they are an international organisation and have clinics all over the world.” Asked why he volunteered for the trial, Glyn said: “I had never been part of a clinical trial and it was partly curiosity to see what happened and partly the feeling that I was doing something useful for other people.”
