Trials for a Coronavirus vaccine conducted by Oxford University and pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca have been halted due to one of the participants falling ill.
A spokesman for the project, that is being rushed through faster than any other vaccine in history, told Sky News “As part of the ongoing randomised, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process was triggered and we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee." Those administering the trial did not give details of the patient’s health status, and were less than candid about the incident’s severity, preferring to suggest this was a “standard process in clinical trials."
The incident is likely to raise further concerns about the unprecedented speed at which the vaccine is being pushed through at around a fifth of the normal time needed.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) state: " Most serious adverse reactions that occur after vaccination are not related to the injection and are coincidental health problems" a deliberately misleading statement that implies those receiving the vaccine do not contract a case of whatever the vaccine is aimed at, when nobody is suggesting they do. It is the unintended or unexpected consequences that have always been the spectre that lurks in every new drug trial.
Darren Birks is Editor of Vision News Online