Participants are urgently being sought for a new COVID-19 vaccine study comparing Moderna’s original booster with one that may protect specifically against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

The Royal Free Hospital is one of a number of sites hosting the study which is aiming to recruit 120 participants – aged 16 and over - and is particularly keen to include people over the age of 65. 

Participation in this trial lasts up to 13 months and includes phone calls and visits to the clinical research site. Participants will receive a single dose of an investigational booster vaccine or the already authorized vaccine, Spikevax.

To be eligible to join, you must:

• Be in good health or stable health
• Have previously received two or three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine
• Have not received a COVID-19 vaccine within the past three months
• Have not tested positive for COVID-19 since 8 November 2021 or have had significant exposure to someone who has tested positive within the past 14 days.

Additional eligibility criteria apply.

If you would like to find out if you qualify visit the pre-screening website which is provided by Informa, a commercial clinical trial company.

The study is being run with the support of the NHS and the National Institute for Health Research, working in partnership with Moderna.

Dr Fiona Burns, who is leading the study for the Royal Free Hospital, said: “We are delighted to be hosting this vaccine research and would urge people to see if they are eligible to take part. Although COVID-19 vaccines have been hugely successful it’s important we develop vaccination plans that will provide greater protection from different strains of the virus. People are still very much needed to come forward for studies like this.”