File: An AstraZeneca spokesperson for the vaccine said they voluntarily paused vaccination to allow a review of safety data by an independent committee., which is being developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University, were"paused" after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.
Worldwide infections to date now stand at more than 27 million, and more than 890,000 people have died from the disease.A spokesperson for the AstraZeneca vaccine said in a statement"we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee". The company said that in large-scale trials, illnesses will sometimes happen by chance, but must be reviewed independently.AstraZeneca did not offer further details, but David Lo, a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of California, Riverside, told AFP the pause may not necessarily be a setback.
The volunteer may have experienced an adverse reaction already seen in earlier patients such as fever and soreness, but in a more severe form, Lo added.