There has been a major hitch in the development of a coronavirus vaccine. Earlier today it became known that a person currently participating in one of the several clinical trials for the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine has taken ill. As it is unclear whether the person in question contracted a virus on their own, or if their condition was brought about as a reaction to the vaccine, all testing has come to a halt.
Note that AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which is currently in the third stage of clinical trials, is viewed by the WHO as the most promising one. Yet, because the trial has to be paused while the proper authorities try to figure out what caused the patient to become sick, there is a possibility that it will take longer than expected for the vaccine to be ready.
In addition, other pharmaceutical companies working on their own versions of a vaccine might also slow down for a moment as they investigate the participants in their own trials to see if anyone is showing similar symptoms.
Understandably, the shares of AstraZeneca have dropped in value since now there is doubt the company can safely deliver a vaccine in the coming months.
As for the coronavirus pandemic, there have now been over 27.7 million cases worldwide. The United States has 6.5 million, but has been seeing lower daily increases, registering under 30,000 Covid-19 patients yesterday.
India has surpassed Brazil and is now the second most affected country with 4.3 million cases; it is still reporting daily increases of over 80,000, which are greater than the numbers seen in the United States at the peak of the outbreak there.
Brazil is third in line, with 4.1 million coronavirus cases, and is now reporting lower daily tallies; yesterday there were less than 20,000 new cases there. The situation remains critical in the rest of South America, though, with Peru, Colombia, Argentina, and Chile still experiencing large outbreaks of the virus.
Meanwhile, the UK government is expected to unveil the controversial bill it has been working on regarding Brexit. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has stated that the law in question is only “in case” the UK and the EU fail to negotiate a trade agreement. However, political experts have argued that the very existence of this law can force the EU’s hand and make the bloc refuse to negotiate with the United Kingdom, because the bill violates the previous Brexit agreement between the two parties.
In other news, a new voter poll by Reuters indicated that Joe Biden is increasing his advantage over Donald Trump. Across the board, Biden has better result predictions when it comes to the popular vote. Nevertheless, it is possible to win the people’s vote and still lose the election, which is what happened with Hillary Clinton in 2016.
