Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said AstraZeneca’s decision to pause clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine Tuesday should boost public confidence that vaccine makers are putting safety first.
“In some respects, it shows that the system works,” Fauci said Wednesday on Fox News. “In other words, the checks and balances that you have when you do a trial that is a large number of people, that’s carefully watched and carefully controlled.”
AstraZeneca announced the pause Tuesday after a volunteer in the United Kingdom reported a “serious adverse health effect,” which was reported to be a severe disorder that causes inflammation of the spinal cord called transverse myelitis. A company spokesman said the pause was to ensure the company could “maintain the integrity of the trials.”
“The American public could feel comfort that when there is an adverse event, it becomes very transparent, and it becomes investigated, and the trial is halted until we can clarify that,” Fauci said. “So there is a positive bit of a silver lining to this, that the system is working and trying to protect people with regards to safety.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine candidate is one of nine currently in late-stage clinical trials with thousands of volunteers as part of the Trump administration’s vaccine and treatment development initiative, Operation Warp Speed.
