Representatives from Oxford University said that in large-scale tests such as this, “some participants can be expected to feel ill, and any such case must be carefully evaluated.” Eighteen thousand people received the vaccine during the tests.
AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday that that she suspended the tests, because one of their participants developed unspecified unexplained health problems. She did so voluntarily and according to standard procedures. A spokesman for the company said on Saturday, according to the AP agency, that one of the participants in the study had symptoms of serious neurological problems.
A clinical study of this vaccine is being conducted in several places, in addition to the United Kingdom, it is also in the United States, Brazil and South Africa.
The fact that clinical trials of new drugs are interrupted for various reasons is commonplace, the AP recalls. In the case of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, this happened for several days in July, when one of the participants developed serious neurological problems. It turned out to be a hitherto undetected case of multiple sclerosis, which had nothing to do with the vaccine.
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Director of AstraZeneca: We could have a vaccine at the end of the year
AstraZeneca’s CEO said on Thursday that despite the suspension of the final phase of clinical trials, the company’s vaccine may be available by the end of this year. “We could still have the vaccine by the end of the year or the beginning of next year,” said CEO Pascal Soriot.
Soriot further stressed that the interruption of clinical trials is by no means exceptional in vaccine development, but has now received special attention due to the world’s interest in the development of the covid-19 vaccine. AFP recalled that the World Health Organization (WHO) has described the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca as the most promising.
Representatives of the WHO also said on Thursday that the suspension of clinical trials of the vaccine is not a fatal problem, but rather an expected snag on the long journey of developing a new vaccine. “It’s a warning to us that there are better and worse moments in clinical development and we need to be prepared for that… We must not be discouraged because this is happening,” said WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan.
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