AstraZeneca, which has developed and is testing a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford, has announced it is suspending research. The organization’s statement was published in Twitter Wednesday 9 September.
The company notes that the suspension of clinical trials is due to the fact that one of the participants had serious side effects, but what these symptoms are, has not been reported.
Suspension of studies is a normal procedure during any vaccine trials when there are signs of deterioration in the participants’ health in order to review the safety data of the drug, according to the organization representatives.
Head of the Department of Microbiology of Latent Infections, Institute. N.F. Gamalei Viktor Zuev commented on the suspension of research. According to him, clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus infection could be suspended only because of a serious incident.
At the same time, the scientist assured that such unpleasant surprises would not happen with the Russian vaccine, since the drug was developed according to a “polished technology”.