Australian COVID Vaccine Trial Stopped
Engineering a fix could take a year. The episode shows why governments seek multiple sources of vaccines.
An Australian produced coronavirus vaccine candidate has been scrapped after trial participants returned false positive test results for HIV, developers announced Friday. The inoculation, which had yet to progress beyond Phase 1 trials, was being jointly developed by the University of Queensland and Australian biotech company CSL. Australia had hoped the vaccine would be available by mid-2021. (Westcott, Watson and Lockwood, 12/11)
While the vaccine had elicited a robust immune response to the novel SARS-COV-2 virus without serious adverse effects in a Phase 1 trial with 216 participants, re-engineering a fix could take another 12 months, they said. (Duran, 12/10)
The episode illustrates why governments have sought access to multiple vaccines and more doses than needed for their populations. Some vaccines might not prove effective, adverse reactions might arise and manufacturing constraints could limit how many doses can be produced. ... We can take our time, Australian Health Department Secretary Brendan Murphy said. Were in a good position because weve controlled the virus. (Cherney, 12/10)
