Brazilian health agency Anvisa reported on Wednesday that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University had died.
This news has prompted AstraZeneca shares to turn negative during the New York session with a decline of around 1%.
However, AstaZeneca is said to continue the clinical trial as there is no reason to stop it, indirectly giving indications that the death may have nothing to do with the vaccine being tried.
Anvisa said his party was notified of the death on Monday, but the International Evaluation and Safety Committee, which oversees vaccine testing, suggested that clinical trials continue.
This is because, it is not clear whether the volunteer received the vaccine or placebo injection as part of the test, and Anvisa said no more information was released due to medical privacy reasons.
After a thorough assessment of the case, no concerns about the safety of clinical trials and independent surveys in addition to Brazilian regulators have recommended that the trial be continued, CNN reported citing a statement from Oxford University to the media on Wednesday.
Meanwhile in a separate report, Bloomberg reported that the participant had never taken the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, there is no further explanation on the cause of the volunteer's death.
Previously, the AstraZeneca vaccine test had to be stopped after one of the trial participants suffered from an unidentifiable disease.
