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A volunteer has died in a clinical trial of an AstraZeneca vaccine for COVID-19.
Brazil’s public health authority ANVISA said on Wednesday that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford had died, but said the test would continue, Reuters reported.
The University of Oxford confirmed the plan to continue the trial, saying in a statement that, after a thorough evaluation, “there are no concerns about the safety of the clinical trial.” The Brazilian newspaper O Globo reports that the volunteer received a placebo and not the tested vaccine, citing unspecified sources, reports Agerpres.
ANVISA did not provide further details, citing the medical confidentiality of the data of those involved in the test. In turn, AstraZeneca declined to comment on the first phase.
The federal university of Sao Paulo, which helps coordinate phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil, said the volunteer who died was Brazilian, without providing further information.
At the same time, AstraZeneca’s share price decreased 1.7%.
The federal government wants to buy the British vaccine and produce it at its biomedical research center in Rio de Janeiro’s FioCruz, while the Butantan Research Institute in Sao Paulo is testing a competing vaccine from the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Brazil has the second worst balance of the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 154,000 people dead after the United States. Brazil ranks third in the number of cases, 5.2 million, after the United States and India.
