Coronavirus: paused vaccine trial back on track after all-clear given

Oxford University and AstraZeneca have resumed trials of a COVID-19 vaccine after being cleared by independent safety reviewers.

Laboratory technicians handles capped vials during trials of a COVID-19 vaccine. Picture: AFP

The trial of a COVID-19 vaccine under development by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has resumed after being cleared by independent safety reviewers.

The trial, one of the most ­advanced among efforts to combat the coronavirus, was paused last week while researchers investigated whether side effects reported by a patient was linked to the vaccine.

The potential vaccine recently moved into the third phase of testing, which involves 30,000 participants in the US, Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

The New York Times last week reported one volunteer in the trial had been diagnosed with transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome affecting the spinal cord.

AstraZeneca said at the weekend that an independent British review had “concluded its investigations and recommended to the (Medicines Health Regulatory Authority) that trials in the UK are safe to resume”.

The Australian government has signed a deal with Oxford University and AstraZeneca for access to a successful vaccine, with another agreement in place with CSL and the University of Queensland.

Health Minister Greg Hunt last week said he hoped doses would be available by January or February.

He said on Sunday there was “genuine hope and optimism” that a COVID-19 vaccine would be available in the first half of next year after the resumption of trials.

“For us the number one is safety, that trumps everything,” Mr Hunt told Sky News. “We have been very cautious and that’s why we were able to look very carefully before choosing our vaccine candidate. We’ll continue to review the evidence.

“But each day I’m quietly becoming more hopeful and more optimistic about the prospect for vaccines for Australians in the first half of 2021, with the earliest available in the first quarter of 2021.”  CSL chief scientific officer ­Andrew Nash last week said the pause in the Oxford University trial showed that all due care was being taken.

The Oxford University vaccine is the product of cutting-edge technology that relies on a modified chimpanzee adenovirus to ­deliver coronavirus genes into human cells, provoking a powerful immune response. But adenoviruses are also known to trigger their own immune responses.