Formation 1994 Affiliations UKCRC registered | Parent organization University of Oxford | |
Purpose Research and clinical trials Location Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (CCVTM), Churchill Hospital, Oxford, England Director Professor Andrew J Pollard | ||
The Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG) is a vaccine research group within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1994 by Professor E. Richard Moxon, was initially based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and moved in 2003 to its current location in the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (CCVTM) at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England. The group, led by Professor Andrew Pollard since 2001, comprises around 75 members across a number of disciplines, including consultants in paediatrics and vaccinology, clinical research fellows, research nurses, statisticians, post-doctoral laboratory scientists, research assistants and DPhil students.
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Aims and background
OVG carries out research on vaccines to improve human health. It works to enhance the understanding of immunity, studies the epidemiology of infectious diseases, and conducts clinical trials into new and improved vaccines for children and adults. Research by Richard Moxon into the public health impact of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) invasive disease in the UK, and efficacy studies of the Hib conjugate vaccine in UK children, led to the founding of OVG in 1994. Since then OVG has particularly specialised in research into meningococcal disease and vaccines to prevent the disease. OVG has been involved with the development of the new vaccine against MenB which was licensed in Europe in 2013. The Group has also carried out research on pneumococcal vaccines, typhoid vaccines and, more recently, new vaccines against Ebola. OVG is a research group within the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford. It is a UK Clinical Research Collaboration (UKCRC) registered clinical trials unit working in collaboration with the Primary Care Unit Clinical Trials Unit (Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences) and the Jenner Institute at the University of Oxford. It is also a participant in the UK Paediatric Vaccine Group (UKPVG) and contributes to the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust’s tertiary Paediatric Infectious Disease and Immunology Service. All OVG trials are listed on the UK Clinical Trials Gateway. OVG supports the All Trials Campaign.
Professor Andrew Pollard, OVG’s Director, was appointed Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in March 2014. Senior staff at OVG are periodically asked to give expert opinions on aspects of vaccines and infectious disease, especially meningococcal disease. For example the 2015 announcement that 14- to 18-year-olds in the UK are to be vaccinated against MenW disease, and the 2012 European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommendation for approval of a new meningitis B vaccine.
Research activity
Since 2001, OVG has enrolled over 12,500 adults and children into clinical trials in the Thames Valley area of England. OVG research has included:
Vaccine Knowledge Project
In 2011, the group launched the Vaccine Knowledge Project, funded by the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. The project website aims to provide independent, evidence-based information about vaccines and infectious diseases. The NHS Choices website lists the Vaccine Knowledge website as a recommended external link on several of its pages. The website has also been referenced in the national media in the UK, particularly during the 2014-15 US measles outbreak originating in Disneyland California.