The Com-Cov trial looking at alternating vaccines has expanded to include the Moderna and Novavax vaccines in a new study. The trial, launched in February at the University College London Hospitals NHS Trust (UCLH) amongst other UK sites, to investigate alternating doses of the Oxford-AztraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines.
The study is regarded as an Urgent Public Health study by the NIHR, and is led overall by the University of Oxford, run by the National Immunisation Schedule Evaluation Consortium (NISEC), and funded by the Vaccines Task Force and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
The researchers will study adverse reactions (reactogenicity) and immune system responses to vaccine combinations. The study is designed as a so-called ‘non-inferiority’ study and will compare the immune system responses to the gold-standard responses reported in previous clinical trials of each vaccine.
Professor Vincenzo Libri, Director of the NIHR UCLH Clinical Research Facility and the UCLH Vaccine Research Centre, who is Principal Investigator of the Com-Cov trial at UCLH, said: “As in the first part of the trial, we hope to be able to show that combining vaccines can generate an immune response that is as good and as safe as using the same vaccine for both doses. This would give us flexibility in terms of the vaccine roll out.
“We were delighted to complete recruitment to the first part of the Com-Cov study at UCLH very rapidly – and we encourage people from across our local communities to register their interest in taking part.”
The additional study will recruit adults aged 50 and over who have received their first vaccination in the past 8-12 weeks.
Researchers plan to recruit a total of 1,050 participants across eight UK sites in the additional study. Up to 180 participants will take part at UCLH, which was the first site to vaccinate volunteers in the first portion of the Com-Cov trial.
Volunteers, who will have received either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine as their first dose, will be randomly allocated to receive either the same vaccine for their second dose, or a dose of the Moderna or Novavax vaccine.
Matthew Snape, Associate Professor in Paediatrics and Vaccinology at the University of Oxford, and Chief Investigator on the trial said: “We saw a fantastic response to the public from the original Com-Cov study, with 830 participants recruited over eight sites in a two-week period in February. We look forward to working with this network and several new sites for the Com-Cov2 study.”
Those wishing to take part in the study can find out more here.
