New vaccine for vomiting bug norovirus to be trialled in UK

A world-first vaccine for the vomiting bug norovirus is being trialled in the UK, with the hope it could cut the “burden on the NHS”, the Health Secretary has said. The new mRNA vaccine from Moderna will enter final stages of testing within the next two weeks, with results so far showing it creates a “strong immune response”.

Experts believe the vaccine could stop people developing the vomiting and diarrhoea bug, which is linked to around 12,000 hospital admissions in the UK every year.

The jab uses mRNA technology to tell the immune system to recognise a “foreign” protein on viruses and mount an attack, in this case targeting three major strains of norovirus.

Dr Patrick Moore, chief investigator of the study and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) director in the South West, said there were currently “no approved vaccines for norovirus anywhere in the world” and the only treatment available for people with serious illness in hospital is intravenous fluids.

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He added: “Norovirus is what we know as the winter vomiting bug, and it’s highly transmissible. It causes vomiting and diarrhoea, usually for two to three days. It can affect people of all ages, and it usually peaks in the winter months in the UK…but we do see norovirus throughout the whole of the year. About one in five cases of gastroenteritis are caused by norovirus – that’s about four million cases annually in the UK and about 685 million globally.”

Some 27 NHS hospitals and centres in England, Scotland and Wales are taking part in the trial, with some running mobile clinics that could visit care homes or other community sites.

Overall, it is hoped 2,500 people in the UK will sign up for the trial