AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial suspended in US for at least several more days amid concerns over serious complication
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial suspended in US for at least several more days amid concerns over serious complication The experimental vaccine is drawing scrutiny after a participant in clinical trials was diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome.
The US clinical trial of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine will be suspended for the next several days as the US Food and Drug Administration investigates a potential side effect, according to Reuters.
Sources
told the news agency on Monday that enrollment in the trial was not being reopened "until at least midweek," pending the investigation.
The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The British-Swedish pharmaceutical company's clinical trial was suspended last week after one volunteer was hospitalized and reportedly diagnosed with transverse myelitis, which causes inflammation in the spinal cord and is associated with viral infections.Oxford University, AstraZeneca's partner on the vaccine, has already resumed its clinical trial in Britain, saying in a statement that adverse reactions were an "expected" part of a large trial,
the BBC reported.
The late-stage trial involves around 30,000 participants in the US, UK, Brazil, and South Africa.In the US, regulators are more hesitant to resume the trial, with the government-funded National Institutes of Health having now launched an investigation of its own,
Kaiser Health News reported Monday.
"The highest levels of NIH are very concerned," Dr. Avindra Nath, leader of viral research at NIH's Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, told the news outlet. "The last thing you want to do is hurt healthy people."
Comment: Meanwhile in South Africa, AstraZeneca, for some reason, is going ahead with the vaccine trials knowing full well the potential
harm this could cause:
Astrazeneca has resumed COVID-19 vaccine trials in South Africa, more than a week after tests were placed on hold due to serious side effects in a participants in Britain, an official at the country's Department of Health told Reuters on Tuesday.
However we've seen this kind of medical malpractice in developing countries numerous times before:
New oral polio vaccine to BYPASS key clinical trials as vaccine caused outbreaks overtake wild polioIt's also worth noting that, Russia already has a vaccine that has passed trials with few complications and is now in the production line. This says a lot about the current state of medical research that other countries are continuing to waste time and money on an problem that has already been solved, all because of political maneuvering:
Russia produces first batch of COVID-19 vaccine, 500 million doses available by JanuaryAlso check out SOTT radio's:
RC