COVID-19 Vaccine: AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial Brazil volunteer dies

A volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca AZN.L and Oxford University died on Wednesday, said Brazilian health authority Anvisa. 

However, the trial of its vaccine on candidates will continue after the death of a volunteer, University said.

AstraZeneca declined to comment immediately.

“Following careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial and the independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator have recommended that the trial should continue,” a spokesman for the university said in a statement.

“Everything is proceeding as expected, without any record of serious vaccine-related complications involving any of the participating volunteers,” the Brazilian university said in a statement.

So far, 8,000 of the planned 10,000 volunteers in the trial have been recruited and given the first dose in six cities in Brazil, and many have already received the second shot, said a university spokesman.

As per news report by CNN Brasil, it said the volunteer was a 28-year-old man who lived in Rio de Janeiro and died from COVID-19 complications.