The world is desperate to put its confidence in a COVID vaccine but unfortunately, testing of the best candidate with the promising clinical phase I and II trial results stands temporarily suspended in the phase III trials.
The testing was suspended after a volunteer participating in the clinical trial conducted by oxford university and drug company AstraZeneca reported a serious adverse reaction. The patient was in the United Kingdom. The vaccine is tested upon thousands of patients in the UK. The volunteer was diagnosed by a condition called Transverse Myelitis.
Transverse Myelitis causes inflation of the spinal cord. This can lead to loss of strength, back pain, bladder problems, and bowel problem apart from others. In the worst case, it can cause paralysis.
With many thousands of people getting the vaccine, medical events can happen that are nothing to do with the vaccine. Pausing trails is normal and can last just a few days until the cause of the illness is found.
The pharma company AstraZeneca said Vaccine still possible this year, despite trial pause.
Across the world, the vaccine race is on and it has sparked certain concerns that they are being rushed. A vaccine developed by Pfizer claims that its vaccine can be approved by next month which is October 2020.
Nine pharmaceutical company including AstraZeneca have issued a joined statement that they are committed to only apply for approval when they are absolutely certain about the safety of the product.
When we talk about the Indian situation, India’s COVID tally rose to over 44 lakhs as the country registered 95,735 cases, inching closer to the grim reality of recording one lakh fresh cases in a day. Over 1,172 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Serum Institute has put trails of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine on hold until the British drugmaker restarts the trail.
UPDATE: UK trials of the Oxford and AstraZeneca vaccine have resumed after a brief pause, yet key details of the events involved have not been released.
Source: 9 NEWS AUSTRALIA, SEP’20, and various other sources.
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