Scientists have announced the suspension of clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford after a volunteer developed a serious -but not life-threatening- side effect reaction in the United Kingdom. AstraZeneca described it as a “routine break” commenting on the patient’s “unexplained side effect”.

For his part, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said today that AstraZeneca’s decision to suspend testing of its experimental vaccine against COVID-19 is obviously a challenge, but does not necessarily mean a setback in efforts to develop a vaccine.

“This is clearly a challenge to this particular vaccine test”, Hancock said when asked about the suspension. “This is not the first time this has happened to the Oxford vaccine,” he added. Asked if this would cause a setback in the vaccine development process, Hancock replied: “Not necessarily, it depends on what they find when they do the research”.

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