Tribune / PTI News Service
New Delhi / London, September 9
Human trials of one of the most promising Covid-19 vaccine candidates, being developed by the University of Oxford, were suspended after a participant from the United Kingdom had an adverse reaction.
Trials on 5 continents
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Oxford University began work on the vaccine in January of this year.
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The trials recently moved to Phase III after successful Phase I and II trials.
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Volunteers for the vaccine trial are located in countries on five continents, including India.
AstraZeneca, the biopharmaceutical giant in partnership with the university to produce the vaccine, described the hiatus as “routine” after what was “an unexplained illness.”
The trials had moved to Phase III after successful Phase I and II trials raised hopes around the world that they would be ready early next year, as results showed they produced a positive immune response.
Meanwhile, Indian health authorities said today that some high-burden Covid-19 states were losing positive patients by failing to run the gold standard RTPCR tests on symptomatic individuals who tested negative for rapid antigen test results.
Delegated core teams in 10 states, including Punjab, who witnessed recent waves have reviewed local situations and in their comments to the Health Ministry said that many states were not conducting RTPCR on symptomatic people who tested negative on rapid antigen tests.
“The ICMR protocol on testing is very clear and states have been guided accordingly. RTPCR tests are essential to confirm the results of symptomatic individuals who tested negative on rapid antigen tests. If this is not done, states may lose patients. We are telling states to go after the virus and we can only do this by catching every missing patient, ”Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said today, attributing the lost cases to the current burden of disease.
Meanwhile, cases today reached 43,70,128 with 89,706 new infections in 24 hours. A record 74,894 recoveries were made, bringing total recoveries to 33.98,844 and the recovery rate to 77.77 percent.
Post notice, India may also suspend trials
Following the suspension of Oxford vaccine trials, the DCGI issued a notice of demonstrative cause to the Serum Institute of India (SII), based in Pune. Noting that the trials may be suspended, SII Executive Director Adar Poonawala responded: “If DCGI has any security concerns, we will abide by their instructions.” TNS
