Prognosis
AstraZeneca Vaccine Tests Face Delay After Patient Gets Ill
- Immunizations halted in key study as safety data is reviewed
- A single unexplained illness triggered a pause in the study
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AstraZeneca Plc stopped giving shots of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after a person participating in one of the company’s studies got sick, a potential adverse reaction that could delay or derail efforts to speed an immunization against Covid-19.
The pause stemmed from a standard review of the company’s vaccine trials after one person developed an unexplained illness, AstraZeneca said in a statement. The move was intended to give researchers time to examine safety data while maintaining the integrity of the trials, the company said. The drugmaker’s shares fell as much as 3% in London Wednesday morning. Later, they pared the decline to 1.1% as investors took it in stride as a fairly common event during testing.