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LONDON – Clinical trials on one of the most advanced experimental COVID-19 vaccines, being developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, were “paused” after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.
With billions of people around the world still suffering from the consequences of the pandemic and the global death toll approaching 900,000, a global race for a vaccine is underway, with nine companies already in the loop. final phase of phase 3 trials.
To date, infections worldwide number more than 27 million, and more than 890,000 people have died from the disease.
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A spokesperson for the AstraZeneca vaccine said in a statement that “we voluntarily stopped vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee.”
“This is a routine action that has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is being investigated, ensuring that we maintain the integrity of the trials.”
The company said that in large-scale trials, illnesses sometimes occur by chance, but they need to be reviewed independently.
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AstraZeneca did not offer further details, but David Lo, a biomedical sciences professor at the University of California, Riverside, told AFP that the hiatus will not necessarily be a setback.
“It’s probably just being cautious right now, it’s a pause, it’s not the same as saying, ‘We can’t move forward,'” Lo said.
“Somehow I feel quite relieved, it means that they are really paying attention.”
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The volunteer may have experienced an adverse reaction already seen in previous patients, such as fever and pain, but in a more severe way, Lo added.
British Health Minister Matt Hancock said it was not the first hiatus in trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“It’s a standard process in clinical trials. There was a hiatus in the early summer and that was resolved without a hitch,” he told Sky News.
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