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AZ Exercises Caution With COVID Vaccine Safety Pause As Questions Remain Over Vector

Pause Affects All AZD1222 Trials

 
• By Andrew McConaghie

The clinical pause for AZD1222 errs on the side of caution, but raises questions about the viral vector’s safety.

Old Road Campus
The adverse event took place in the UK trial run by Oxford university's Jenner Institute.

AstraZeneca’s decision to place a voluntary pause on all trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate after a single patient experienced an “unexplained illness” in the UK Phase III trial is being seen as prudent in a fast-moving field, as concerns are raised over the safety of its adenovirus vector.

The adverse event in question has still to be confirmed by the company but reports in The New York Times suggest that it was transverse myelitis (TM), a rare immune-mediated...

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