Bristol has been selected as one of four locations to take part in a world-first coronavirus vaccine trial for children.
The University of Oxford study will recruit up to 300 child volunteers nationally, aged between six and 17 years old, to investigate if the current Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is effective in protecting children.
As well as the Oxford site, three partner sites in London, Southampton and at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children will run the trial.
It launched today (Monday, February 15) and the first vaccinations are expected to commence later this month.
Recruitment for Bristol's is open to all BS postcodes via the trial website, which states that participants from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are "particularly welcome" to take part.
The length of the study is one year and participants will be asked to attend five visits, with anyone under the age of 16 requiring parental consent.
Up to 240 randomly-selected participants will be given the coronavirus vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, while the rest will receive a control vaccine either of MenB or Bexsero.
Andrew Pollard, chief investigator on the Oxford vaccine trial, said: "While most children are relatively unaffected by coronavirus and are unlikely to become unwell with the infection, it is important to establish the safety and immune response to the vaccine in children and young people as some children may benefit from vaccination.
"These new trials will extend our understanding of control of SARS-CoV2 to younger age groups."
A £10 reimbursement will be offered to each participant for each visit to cover any travel costs.
The trial website advises: "The data from this study may be used to support further larger scale trials in children, the results of which may be used by AstraZeneca to support approvals of this vaccine for use in children in the future.
"You/your child may benefit from protection from COVID-19 disease as a result of receiving the vaccine which has shown to have 60-90 per cent efficacy against infection in adults."
Oxford University said the trial is the first to assess the vaccine in children so young.
Last week Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said it is “perfectly possible” the UK will have coronavirus vaccines for children by the end of the year.
Today’s top Bristol stories:
Bristol area continues to have one of country's worst Covid rates
Patient, 31, dies with coronavirus as UK hospital deaths rise
