Volunteer in Oxford Covid vaccine test dies in Brazil

CNN further reported that a spokesman for vaccine maker AstraZeneca declined to comment specifically on reports that a volunteer in its trial of a coronavirus vaccine in Brazil had died, but indicated nothing had happened to justify stopping or pausing the trial.

Vaccines are being hailed as the solution to the covid-19 pandemic, but the vaccine trials now underway are not created to tell us if they will save lives, reports Peter Doshi, Associate Editor at The BMJ today. The person asked not to be identified because the information isn't public.

He explained that all ongoing phase three trials for which details have been released are evaluating mild, not severe, disease - and they will be able to report final results once around 150 participants develop symptoms.

University of Oxford spokesman Alexander Buxton said "there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial", and that, "The independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator have recommended that the trial should continue".

AstraZeneca's American depositary receipts fell as much as 3.3% in NY on Wednesday afternoon after word of the person's death, but trimmed most of those losses in recent trading. Early last month, trials in the United Kingdom and elsewhere were temporarily paused after a woman in the vaccine group had developed neurological symptoms.

The regulator said on Wednesday testing of the vaccine would continue after the volunteer's death. The ministry continues to work with companies to ensure proper vaccine trials are taking place in Japan, he said.

AstraZeneca has told NHK that all significant medical events are carefully assessed by trial investigators, an independent safety monitoring committee and the regulatory authorities.

AstraZeneca announced in early September that its coronavirus vaccine candidate AZD1222 was moving into phase three clinical trials in the us, with about 30,000 participants.

Both the AstraZeneca and J&J vaccines are based on adenoviruses, cold germs that researchers have used in experimental therapies for decades, and the two paused trials have raised questions about the approach.

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