TRIALS of a new coronavirus vaccine are set to start in Southampton this morning.

The city is home to one of 17 sites across the country to test the jab, with researchers aiming to recruit around 6,000 UK participants – from a total of 30,000 people globally

The vaccine, which is being developed by pharmaceutical company Janssen, has already undergone phase one and two trials, and analysis of the single-dose study suggests the Covid-19 vaccine candidate induces a robust immune response and is generally well-tolerated.

Now the phase-three trial of the vaccine will be the first of its two-dose study.

Saul Faust, professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We just don’t know how each of these vaccines is going to behave and which are going to generate the better short and long-term immunity.

“And we can’t be certain that vaccine supply will be efficient and effective and secure from any one manufacturer, wherever it’s being made in the world.”

Other cities to take part in the study include Bristol, Cardiff, London, Leicester, Sheffield, Manchester, Dundee and Belfast.

The Janssen vaccine will be the third to be trialled in the UK, along with the Oxford/AstraZeneca candidate, and one from US biotech company Novavax.

So far around 25,000 people in the UK have participated in vaccine trials, and more than 310,000 have indicated their willingness to take part in clinical studies by signing up to the NHS vaccine research registry.

Kate Bingham, chairwoman of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, said: “Because we’ve got this national citizen registry of volunteers willing to go into clinical trials, it has accelerated our ability to enrol trials.

“And that means that the UK is a very favourable place to come in and run studies and so Novavax has expanded that study, and of course Janssen has come to the UK for the first, I think, of its two-dose study.”

The UK has secured 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine if the trial is successful.

Prof Faust, who is principal investigator of the Janssen trial in the UK, said there are 40,000 people on the NHS vaccine registry who are in the postcode areas around the vaccine centres for the Janssen study.

The vaccine candidate Janssen is trialling is an adenoviral vaccine, like the one Oxford University is working on.

These are based on weakened versions of adenoviruses, which are a group of viruses that typically infect membranes of the eyes, respiratory tract, urinary tract, intestines and nervous system, and include the common cold.

The researchers also stress that participating in a vaccine trial would not exclude anyone from routine immunisation later.

To sign up to potentially be picked for the trial, click here.