×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Tuesday
17
Mar 2026
weather symbol
Athens 14°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> World

AstraZeneca, under fire for vaccine safety, releases trial blueprints

Experts are concerned that the company has not been more forthcoming about two more participants who became seriously ill

Newsroom September 21 04:34

AstraZeneca revealed details of its large coronavirus vaccine trials on Saturday, the third in a wave of rare disclosures by drug companies under pressure to be more transparent about how they are testing products that are the world’s best hope for ending the pandemic.

Polls are finding Americans increasingly wary of accepting a coronavirus vaccine. And scientists inside and outside the government are worried that regulators, pressured by the president for results before Election Day on Nov. 3, might release an unproven or unsafe vaccine.

“The release of these protocols seems to reflect some public pressure to do so,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistician and expert in clinical trial design for vaccines at the University of Florida. “This is an unprecedented situation, and public confidence is such a huge part of the success of this endeavor.”

Experts have been particularly concerned about AstraZeneca’s vaccine trials, which began in April in Britain, because of the company’s refusal to provide details about serious neurological illnesses in two participants, both women, who received its experimental vaccine in Britain. Those cases spurred the company to halt its trials twice, the second time earlier this month. The studies have resumed in Britain, Brazil, India and South Africa, but are still on pause in the U.S. About 18,000 people worldwide have received AstraZeneca’s vaccine so far.

See Also:

High school students across Greece protest mandatory use of Covid-19 masks with sit-ins

>Related articles

Proto Thema in the “Red Zone” in Tyre: See images of a flattened neighborhood (videos-photos)

Thriller over Ali Larijani’s fate: “We hit him,” announced the IDF (Update)

How the war in Iran “hit” Turkey

Travel + Leisure: Skopelos one of the “30 Secret Islands to Visit for the Ultimate Secluded Vacation”

AstraZeneca’s 111-page trial blueprint, known as a protocol, states that its goal is a vaccine with 50 percent effectiveness — the same threshold that the Food and Drug Administration has set in its guidance for coronavirus vaccines. To determine with statistical confidence whether the company has met that target, there will have to be 150 people ill with confirmed coronavirus among participants who were vaccinated or received placebo shots.

Read more: NY Times

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#AstraZeneca#coronavirus#COVID-19#vaccine#world
> More World

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

Suffocating pressure on Famellos to pick a camp: Autonomous Syriza or cooperation with Tsipras?

March 17, 2026

Tommy Olsen of the NGO Aegean Boat Report arrested in Norway for criminal organisation and expected to be extradited to Greece

March 17, 2026

Proto Thema in the “Red Zone” in Tyre: See images of a flattened neighborhood (videos-photos)

March 17, 2026

Javed Aslam’s asylum revoked; no protection reasons remain in Greece, says Ministry of Migration

March 17, 2026

Three scenarios on the table for the impact of the war in the Middle East

March 17, 2026

PASOK and the open fronts in view of the Congress, Konstantinopoulos first among the delegates in Tripoli despite his deletion

March 17, 2026

Weather: Rains, gusty winds & snow coming from Thursday, which areas are affected

March 17, 2026

The polls and ND’s higher numbers, leader Nikos A. fills a Wembley, OPEKEPE 2 involves MPs (not ministers?), National Bank and Allianz

March 17, 2026
All News

> Travel

Everything that happened at the Travel.gr Greece Talks conference – What Hatzidakis, Pierrakakis, Dimas and tourism professionals said

The Travel.gr Conference

March 13, 2026

Hydra in a day – A timeless seaside escape

February 18, 2026

Kimolos wins over International Media: “A hidden gem waiting to be discovered”

August 28, 2025

French Vogue discovers the exotic beauty of Skopelos

August 28, 2025

Naxos tops the list of Greek kitesurfing destinations for 2025

July 9, 2025
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2026 Πρώτο Θέμα