James Warren
NEWS is emerging of a number of volunteers walking out of COVID-19 vaccine testing in Spain after serious side effects have been reported during UK trials.
Head of the well publicised AstraZeneca trials Alberto Borobia told US media outlet Reuters that an undisclosed number of volunteers have left the tests due to concerns over adverse effects.
“Many have called to ask us some more detail about the risk of the vaccine, whether what happened with that vaccine had anything to do with the one we are studying, these types of questions,” Borobia said.
The concerns arose after side effects were reported in the Madrid-based vaccine trials on a subject in the UK.
As a result, worldwide trials of AstraZeneca’s vaccine were placed on hold on September 6, only resuming on Monday in the UK and Brazil.
According to Borobia, there are enough reserve volunteers to continue testing as normal, which is scheduled to take 14-16 months.
So far, Phase 2 testing in Spain has had a rocky start, with delays due to issues with the laboratory causing trials to be pushed back 24 hours.
In the wake of safety concerns, AstraZeneca, along with nine other pharmaceutical companies, has been forced to reassure the public of adhering to strict scientific standards due to the urgency of putting a stop to the pandemic.
