London, Mar 4 (IANS): A new study will be launched in Britain to research the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines in people with low immunity due to health conditions, including cancer, local media reported.

In the Octave study, up to 5,000 of these patients, from around Britain, will be vaccinated as part of the country's mass rollout, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

"We urgently need to understand if patient populations with chronic conditions such as cancer, inflammatory arthritis and kidney and liver disease are likely to be well-protected by current Covid-19 vaccines," said lead researcher Iain McInnes, from the University of Glasgow, in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Octave study will give us invaluable new data to help us answer questions of this kind from our patients and their families," it said.

Trials and real-life data show the current vaccines work well for most adults, including the elderly, but evidence remains little on efficacy in immunocompromised patients.

More than 20.4 million people in Britain have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

England is currently under the third national lockdown since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. Similar restriction measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On February 22, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his long-anticipated "roadmap" exiting the lockdown. Schools in England will reopen from March 8 as the first part of the four-step plan, which Johnson said was designed to be "cautious but irreversible".