A volunteer in Brazil’s trial of AstraZeneca’s experimental coronavirus vaccine has died, the Brazilian health agency Anvisa announced on Wednesday, but organizers said there was no reason to stop the trial — an indication that the death is not linked to the vaccine.
So far, the D’Or Institute, which is administering the clinical trial in Rio, said 8,000 volunteers had received either the vaccine or a placebo in the trial. “The rigorous analysis of data collected up to now did not raise any doubts about the safety of the study, and thus recommended that it continue,” the Institute said in a statement. A spokesman for vaccine maker AstraZeneca declined to comment specifically on reports that a volunteer in its trial of a coronavirus vaccine in Brazil had died, but indicated nothing had happened to justify stopping or pausing the trial. “We cannot comment on individual cases in an ongoing trial of the Oxford vaccine as we adhere strictly to medical confidentiality and clinical trial regulations, but we can confirm that all required review processes have been followed,” the spokesman told CNN. “All significant medical events are carefully assessed by trial investigators, an independent safety monitoring committee and the regulatory authorities.
