Coronavirus Vaccine: AstraZeneca is stopping trials of its COVID-19 vaccine after 'unexplained' illness in volunteers. 

Late-stage trials of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which is being developed by the united kingdom pharma firm AstraZeneca alongside Oxford University , are halted following the event of a 'unexplained' illness by a volunteer. 

AstraZeneca claimed that it had voluntarily halted the trials to research whether the "potentially unexplained" illness of the recipient was a side effect of the shot. 

In a statement issued on Tuesday evening, the corporate stated that its "standard review process triggered a vaccination pause to permit for a review of safety data." The AstraZeneca spokesperson confirmed the pause in vaccinations covers studies within the us and other countries.

"Our standard review process was initiated as a part of the continued , randomised global Oxford coronavirus vaccine trial and that we voluntarily stopped the vaccination to permit the independent safety data review panel," said the spokesman. 

"This may be a routine action that has got to be taken whenever in one among the trials there's a potentially unexplained disease while being investigated to make sure the integrity of the trials is maintained."

The company also stated that volunteers sometimes develop illness in large-scale trials and will be independently reviewed. "We are working to hurry up the review of one event to minimise any potential impact on the timeline of the trial," the spokesperson added.

However, the corporate didn't reveal the situation of the volunteer or the character and severity of the illness of the volunteer.

AstraZeneca is one among nine companies currently in phase 3 late-stage trials for his or her vaccine candidates. The vaccine, called AZD1222, uses a weakened version of a standard cold-causing adenovirus that has been designed to code for the spike protein that the novel coronavirus uses to invade cells. 

At the top of last month, AstraZeneca began recruiting 30,000 people within the US for its largest vaccine study. The vaccine, developed by Oxford University , is additionally being tested in thousands of individuals in Britain and in smaller studies in Brazil and South Africa .