Phase 1 COVID-19 Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing - National Core Study

A national consortium is linking together dozens of existing UK health studies—from household surveys to hospital records—to track who gets COVID-19, how sick they become, and what happens to them afterwards. This matters because the pandemic’s full toll remains unclear. Most research has focused on hospitalised patients, leaving gaps in understanding for the millions who had mild or asymptomatic infections. The project unites separate longitudinal studies, adds health data from GP registries and administrative records, and uses repeated antibody tests to assign cases more precisely. It aims to answer urgent questions that individual studies cannot address alone: the physical and mental health consequences of infection across the full severity spectrum, how the pandemic is widening health and socioeconomic inequalities, and how well vaccines work in different groups and what determines people’s immune responses. If successful, the work will produce rapid briefing notes alongside scientific reports, designed to feed directly into UK policy decisions on vaccination rollout, shielding guidance, and support for long COVID. The impact will be felt in how the NHS allocates resources, how employers manage workplace safety, and how government targets support for those worst affected—not through a single breakthrough, but by giving decision-makers a reliable, real-time picture of a shifting crisis.