Brazilian health authorities reported this week that a participant in AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine study has died.
It is unclear if the participant received the vaccine. But University of Oxford, which is developing the vaccine with AstraZeneca, said that an independent review and Brazilian regulators have recommended that the late-stage trial continue — which could be a signal that the volunteer did not receive the vaccine.
No other details about the participant have been released so far.
AstraZeneca’s late-stage vaccine trial was put on hold in the U.S. on Sept. 6 after a participant in the UK became ill with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory disorder that is sometimes associated with vaccines. But the trials have been ongoing in several other countries, including Brazil. Anonymous sources told Reuters this week that AstraZeneca’s U.S. trial might resume later this week.
Read the Reuters report.
