A vaccine is to be trialled on thousands of people to find out if it could protect against norovirus - a stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea. The easily spreadable winter virus can affect people of all ages and have huge consequences - often closing hospital wards, taking children out of school and keeping parents off work.

The jab uses mRNA technology to tell the immune system to recognise a ‘foreign’ protein on viruses and mount an attack.

The world’s first norovirus vaccine is set to be trialled by the NHS in a bid to ease the strain on already stretched hospitals.

A new trial that aims to protect against norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea, is set to be trialled on 25,000 people. Norovirus, commonly referred to as the “winter vomiting bug”, affects people of all ages and has had significant societal and healthcare impacts.

Dr Patrick Moore, the study's chief investigator and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) director in the South West, stated that there are currently "no approved vaccines for norovirus anywhere in the world", and the only treatment available for severely ill patients in hospitals is intravenous fluids.

Experts hope the Moderna jab could stop people developing the vomiting and diarrhoea bug, which is linked to around 12,000 hospital admissions in the UK every year

A groundbreaking vaccine for norovirus, the notorious winter vomiting bug, is set to enter final-stage trials in the UK within the next fortnight. Developed by Moderna using mRNA technology, the jab aims to combat three major strains of the highly contagious virus.

Britain could become the first country to offer norovirus jab after early trial results found it creates a “strong immune response”.

The late-stage trial will recruit about 25,000 people around the world to test the new vaccine from Moderna. View on euronews