Doctors trial world’s first mRNA vaccine against vomiting bug norovirus

The phase 3 clinical trial is to run for two years, and will enrol 25,000 adults – with a focus on those over the age of 60 – from countries including Japan, Canada and Australia. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

Doctors have begun trialling the world’s first mRNA vaccine against the vomiting bug norovirus in the hope the jab could bring huge health and economic benefits.

Norovirus causes sickness and diarrhoea and can spread very rapidly between people who are in close contact, with outbreaks often occurring in hospitals, care homes, schools and nurseries.