Call for bird flu vaccine trial volunteers

Volunteers in Dorset are being urged to take part in trials of a new vaccine designed to protect against a potential bird flu pandemic.

The first volunteers in the UK have now been immunised, and Dr Patrick Moore, who is co‑leading the National Institute for Health and Care Research programme, told BBC Radio Solent that people in the county from the most at‑risk groups were especially needed.

These include those who work with poultry and adults aged over 65.

Moore said bird flu was currently rare in humans but there were concerns about the virus potentially changing in the future.

"If it does mutate, it could then get into humans and then spread from human to human, which could cause the next pandemic," he said.

The vaccine is being developed as a precaution, so it could be deployed quickly if the threat increases.

Trials are already under way, with volunteers receiving the experimental H5N1 vaccine at centres including a clinic in Southampton.

The UK Health Security Agency said the risk to the public remains low, with almost all human cases linked to close contact with infected animals.

Moore said there had been about 116 human cases worldwide in recent years.

He sought to reassure volunteers about safety, saying the vaccine had already been tested in earlier stages and that participants would be closely monitored throughout the study, with researchers collecting detailed data on their experiences.