In the first wave of the pandemic, SAFER was set up to answer questions around the proportion of frontline NHS staff in acute care who contracted COVID-19, the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, the frequency of asymptomatic infection and persistence (or not) of antibodies.
As the pandemic progresses, we aim to answer key questions with SAFER-PLUS around vaccine effectiveness, the protection from infection which is asymptomatic, the risk of re-infection after the initial infection and the infectivity of the virus and how this differs post vaccination. In addition, we will explore how the virus evolves over time and what the impact of virus variants is. We will monitor immune responses over time and our data will also contribute to National data informing National policy.
Virology, Immune response and Epidemiology Team
Professor Andrew Hayward
Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology
