Vaccines

The Manchester Vaccines Group (MVG) was formed in 2011 to support NIHR portfolio vaccine research across the north of the UK. Since that time we have been conducting quantitative and qualitative vaccine studies in both children and adults.

The group, led by Consultant Paediatric Immunologist Dr Stephen Hughes, has continued to grow rapidly over the past four years. Members now include a Vaccine Research Fellow, adult and paediatric Research Nurses, a dedicated team of study co-ordination staff and a Divisional Manager. We work in close collaboration with academics from The University of Manchester and the Public Health England’s Meningococcal Reference Unit, which is situated on-site. We conduct research at the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Manchester Clinical Research Facility (adult and paediatric), which is also conveniently situated within the campus of the Trust. The Immunology unit also collaborates with other research groups locally, nationally and internationally.

In 2014-2015 we exceeded recruitment targets for every study that we completed. Our most recent success, and our largest piece of work to date, was in collaboration with Public Health England. Through superb interaction and engagement with the local community, we enrolled 2,017 adolescents onto the MenCar study within nine days, demonstrating our team’s capability to remain dedicated and flexible during intensive study timetables. We see this as a significant step forward in understanding meningococcal carriage and disease.

In addition to the MenCar study we also secured funding from Meningitis Now to explore immunogenicity in the most at-risk patient group. We successfully recruited 141 participants nationally.

If you are interested in your child taking part in one of our research studies, or would like any further information, please contact:

If any other professionals have a special interest in paediatric vaccine studies then please contact Patricia Graham or Gemma Donohoe.