A new clinical trial has been launched in Oxford to determine the effectiveness of delivering tuberculosis (TB) vaccines through inhalation. The study is being conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute, who are giving BCG, the current licensed vaccine against ... READ MORE
News for Life-saving Vaccines
Vaccine trial for deadly Nipah virus launched
The first participants have received doses of a new vaccine against Nipah virus in a clinical trial by University of Oxford researchers. Nipah virus is a devastating disease mostly found in South-East Asia that can be fatal in up to 75 percent of cases. This first-in-human trial of the vaccine ... READ MORE
Oxford Vaccine Group receives £7.8m in research funding to fight pandemic threats
The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG), which led the rapid clinical development of the Oxford vaccine in COVID-19 in the pandemic, has been awarded £7.8 million by UK Aid for research into the prevention of five dangerous diseases with epidemic or pandemic potential. The awards will fund research into ... READ MORE
Small cash incentives improve vaccine uptake in rural areas of Ghana
Researchers from Oxford and Ghana have shown that small cash incentives increased COVID-19 vaccine uptake in rural Ghana. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, could offer a new strategy for enhancing health interventions in Africa. The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the ... READ MORE
WHO recommends Oxford malaria vaccine for use
The R21/Matrix-MTM malaria vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India has been recommended for use by the World Health Organisation (WHO), paving the way for its global roll-out. The WHO made the announcement after the vaccine, developed with support from the ... READ MORE
Research profile: “You see the impact of your research in clinical care. It’s part of the same circle”
Lizzie Stafford, a Clinical Research Nurse Manager in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, has been involved in number of Oxford BRC-supported research studies. The BRC is funding the second year of her NIHR postgraduate clinical research programme. “I’ve been involved in some ground-breaking ... READ MORE
Real-world vaccine response in patients with impaired immune systems revealed
Updated data from the ongoing OCTAVE study reveal, for the first time, the real-world vaccine responses and infection outcomes in clinically at-risk patients with a range of immunocompromised or immunosuppressed conditions. Preliminary data from the landmark OCTAVE study in August 2021 showed ... READ MORE
Landmark antibody study to test immune responses against COVID-19
Thousands of immunosuppressed people, including patients at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH), have the chance to take part in a landmark new study investigating which people are still at the greatest risk of COVID-19 infection after vaccination. Researchers hope the STRAVINSKY study’s findings ... READ MORE
Malaria booster vaccine continues to meet WHO efficacy goal
Researchers from the University of Oxford and their partners have reported new findings from their Phase 2b trial which tested the effectiveness of a booster dose of their candidate malaria vaccine. The vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, had previously demonstrated high-level efficacy of 77 ... READ MORE
Human trials of aerosol-based TB vaccine begin
University of Oxford researchers have begun recruiting for a phase I clinical trial of a tuberculosis vaccine in human volunteers to develop a new way to test the efficacy of future TB vaccines. The study is led by the Director of the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), Helen McShane, ... READ MORE
Oxford BRC’s ability to deliver rapid COVID-19 research response highlighted
Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) researchers have highlighted how the BRC’s infrastructure gave it the agility and capacity to respond rapidly with research projects to tackle COVID-19. In a commentary published in the open access BMC Health Research Policy and Systems journal, the ... READ MORE
COVID-19 infection more likely than vaccines to cause rare cardiovascular complications
Researchers have reported the results of the largest ever study to compare the risks of cardiovascular events - such as myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiac arrhythmia - between different vaccines and COVID-19 infection, and the first to investigate the association between cardiac events and the ... READ MORE
New study launched to understand vaccine escape
Oxford researchers will be involved in a major new study seeking to understand why some people become infected after vaccination or prior infection while others do not Oxford BRC-supported investigators already involved in the Protective Immunity from T-Cells in Healthcare workers (PITCH) study ... READ MORE
Delayed second dose and third doses of the Oxford vaccine lead to heightened immune response to COVID-19
A longer delay of up to 45 weeks between the first and second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine leads to enhanced immune response after the second dose, the latest research by the Oxford Vaccine Group has found. They also found that a third dose given more than six months after the second ... READ MORE
Latest data on immune response to COVID-19 reinforces need for vaccination
A new study led by University of Oxford has found that previous infection, whether it was symptomatic or asymptomatic, does not necessarily protect you long term from COVID-19, particularly against new variants of concern. The PITCH Study (Protective Immunity from T cells to COVID-19 in Health ... READ MORE
Treating needle fears may reduce COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
A new large-scale study shows that a quarter of the UK adult population has a potential injection phobia, and these individuals are twice as likely to be put off getting a COVID-19 vaccine. The study indicates that if all injection anxiety in the population was removed, just over 10 per cent of ... READ MORE
BRC-supported researchers recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours
A number of NIHR Oxford BRC-supported researchers who have played prominent roles in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic have been honoured as part of the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. The researchers, who have developed new vaccines or identified new drug treatments, have saved many ... READ MORE
Messaging focused on personal rather than collective benefits more effective for COVID-19 vaccination
The largest ever study of COVID-19 vaccine messaging shows that emphasising the personal benefits of vaccination may be the most effective way to persuade people who are sceptical about the jab. For the one in ten who say they won't take a COVID-19 vaccine, messaging that focuses on personal ... READ MORE
Oxford BRC researchers named among new Academy of Medical Sciences fellows
A number of leading researchers supported by the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre are among 50 prominent biomedical and health scientists elected to the Academy of Medical Sciences’ respected and influential Fellowship. The new Fellows include Oxford BRC experts who have spearheaded the ... READ MORE
Malaria vaccine becomes first to achieve WHO-specified 75% efficacy goal
Researchers from the University of Oxford and their partners have reported that a malaria vaccine they are developing has proved to be 77% effective in early trials. The findings of the Phase IIb randomised, controlled, double-blind trial, posted on SSRN/Preprints with The Lancet, show the ... READ MORE