With the outbreak of the COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus Pandemic raging rampantly across the world, teams of researchers and scientists are fighting against time to identify a cure or vaccine to bring this deadly virus under control. Recently, Russia had registered the world's first COVID vaccine, named Sputnik V, much to the consternation of many people from the medical fraternity, as the vaccine had not completed its trials. However, the Russian President Vladimir Putin backed the vaccine completely and mentioned that even one of his two daughters had been inoculated with it. There are quite a few other vaccines which are nearing the final stage and one of them is the vaccine developed by Oxford University, in association with AstraZeneca!

Latest reports state that the AstraZeneca vaccine has unfortunately suffered a setback, after late stage studies were stopped by the company. Studies on AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate are on temporary hold, after one of the volunteers in the human trials developed some unexplained illness. The company is investigating to see if the illness is due to any side effects of the vaccine candidate! AstraZeneca issued a statement, telling, "standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data." The company however did not reveal any further details regarding the complications, except to call it, "a potentially unexplained illness." Some reports state that the volunteer who suffered the complications is part of the trials being conducted in the UK. The Phase 3 trials are said to be the most important stage, as the sheer volume of the volunteers provide in-depth data, on the safety of the vaccine and reveals any possible side effects.

Reports state that this vaccine candidate, which is being jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the Oxford University, is being called AZD1222. This vaccine is said to use a weakened strain of the common cold causing adenovirus, which has been engineered to attack the spike protein used by the novel corona virus to invade cells. Though clinical trials being put on hold is not something new, this is speculated to be the first time it has happened during the trials for a COVID vaccine candidate. AstraZeneca is currently one of the 9 companies which are in the late-stage Phase 3 trials of their vaccine candidates. The Serum Institute of India has partnered with AstraZeneca and the Oxford University to manufacture their vaccine candidate, in our country. Unfortunately for AstraZeneca, this complication arose the same day that it had issued an unusual pledge along with 8 other companies, to uphold the highest ethical standards while developing a vaccine, irrespective of any political pressure. Stay tuned for updates...