ALMOST 600 volunteers in Dorset have taken part in a trial for a new coronavirus vaccine.

Initial results show the Novavax vaccine to be 89.3 per cent effective and evidence will now be submitted for independent scrutiny and product approval.

It is also showing positive results against new variants of Covid-19.

A total of 591 Dorset residents took part in the trial of the vaccine, which has been developed by US-based biotechnology firm Novavax.

It was trialled at the Dorset Research Hub at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and 60 million doses have already been secured for the UK with manufacturing set to take place on Teesside.

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.

The study recruited more than 15,000 participants from 35 UK research sites in just over two months.

And now those who took part have been praised by researchers.

Dr Patrick Moore, a Dorset GP and the local 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.”

More than a quarter 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 more than 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.Yesterday urgent action was being taken in several postcode areas in England after 11 cases of the South African variant of the virus were detected in people who have no travel links to the area.

Volunteers were ringing and knocking on doors and leaving testing kits for residents.

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