Is the pause in the Oxford vaccine trial a setback? | BOOM

AstraZeneca recently paused clinical trials for the Covid-19 vaccine after a patient experienced a neurological malfunction symptoms with a rare but serious spinal cord disorder. What does this mean for the race to finding a coronavirus vaccine where the Oxford vaccine was a global frontrunner? What questions does this raise on vaccine trials and their efficacy as well? BOOM Explains.

Dr. N.Kumarasamy, Chief & Director, VHS-Infectious Diseases Medical Centre says that more than 100 different vaccines are in various levels of clinical trials globally right now to fight the novel coronavirus, #COVID19. A strict inclusion criteria to onboard patients for #vaccinetrials is that the patient must be disease free, so that they can be monitored properly if they develop health issues.

In case of the #Astrazeneca trial, we need to wait for more evidence to know if the neurological side effect in the patient is related to the vaccine or other conditions before we move forward with the trials. This will also cause serious concern among trial participants from being included in future trials so we need transparency in process just like regulators have rightly done with Oxford vaccine trials.

Watch BOOM's Govindraj Ethiraj interview Dr N. Kumarasamy on the various stages of vaccine development and how adverse events i.e. side effects on patients are recorded while developing vaccines across the world.