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The information was released Tuesday night by the health information website Stat News. The pharmaceutical company confirmed it in a statement sent to CNN.
Portugal should receive this vaccine before the end of the year, as part of the 6.9 million doses of the vaccine that would reach the country.
“As part of the ongoing global randomized controlled trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process resulted in a pause in vaccination to allow for review of safety data,” the company said in that statement.
AstraZeneca stressed that this is “a routine action, which should occur whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is being investigated”, in order to ensure that “the integrity of the trials” is maintained.
“In large-scale testing, diseases occur by chance, but they need to be independently reviewed in order to be carefully controlled. We are working to expedite the review of a single event to minimize any potential impact on the testing schedule. We are committed to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our tests, “the statement concluded.
Therefore, studies are suspended while research is conducted to determine if the disease is related to the product being tested.
British minister devalues suspension
The British Health Minister has already devalued this suspension of testing the vaccine.
Matt Hancock admits that this hiatus represents an unexpected challenge, but that it will not impede the advancement of this vaccine development process, which, he stresses, must put safety first.
The vaccine was being tested in the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and South Africa, among others. It involves thousands of people.
The information about the suspension of the vaccine comes the same day that AstraZeneca and eight other drug manufacturers signed a pledge, promising to maintain the highest ethical and scientific standards in the development of their vaccines, and that they would not seek premature government approval for no vaccine against the new coronavirus.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 893,524 deaths and infected more than 27.3 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
c / The day after tomorrow
