The University of Oxford says the late-stage trial of its Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil will continue following reports of a participant’s death.
The university said it can’t comment on specific incidents but an independent review found no reason to be concerned about the safety of the Brazilian trial.
It says an “independent review, in addition to the Brazilian regulator, have recommended that the trial should continue.”
The Oxford vaccine is being developed in conjunction with the international pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Trials are underway in the United States and the UK, as well as Brazil, to determine whether the potential vaccine is safe and effective in humans.
Meanwhile, independent study claimed that Oxford Covid-19 vaccine is doing “everything expected”, which means good news in the fight against the deadly virus.
A team at Bristol University used recently developed techniques to validate that the vaccine accurately follows the genetic instructions programmed into it by the Oxford University team. The experts say that the novel analysis provides even greater clarity and detail about how the vaccine successfully provokes a strong immune response.
“This is an important study as we are able to confirm that the genetic instructions underpinning this vaccine, which is being developed as fast as safely possible, are correctly followed when they get into a human cell,” said Dr David Matthews, Reader in Virology from Bristol’s School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, who led the research.