Scientists are concerned about hidden details about Coronavirus vaccines
Shafaq News / When it was announced, recently, that clinical trials of a possible vaccine against Corona virus would be stopped, due to the illness of a volunteer in the test, officials of the British company "AstraZeneca" did not reveal the details of what had happened, and only talked about it in a closed meeting.
According to the "New York Times", a number of scientists and researchers are concerned that pharmaceutical companies will not provide detailed and sufficient data on the safety of the upcoming vaccines.
The executive director of the company, Pascal Soriot, said that the volunteer, who suddenly fell ill, suffers from severe disturbance in the nervous system, but the official referred to what happened during a meeting with the J.P. Morgan Investment Bank.
On Saturday, AstraZeneca announced the resumption of its clinical trials again in Britain, without providing any details about the health condition of the volunteer, who became severely ill and caused the suspension of clinical trials for some time.
The safety of vaccines raises great sensitivity in the medical field, and the reason is that hundreds of millions of people, or perhaps billions, will take doses of them, and if unwanted complications result in only a limited number, that means that thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands of people will get sick.
On the other hand, there are those who believe that it is usual for pharmaceutical companies to keep the details of clinical trials confidential in order to protect intellectual property rights.
In the United States, for example, experts say that taxpayers have the right to know the details, especially as it has supported vaccine research with billions of dollars and pledged to take the initiative to buy it, when it proves its effectiveness.
Harlan Krumholz a health care researcher at Yale University believes that the situation is better when the drug companies disclose more details of clinical trials.
And last week, nine pharmaceutical companies pledged, in a firm statement, that they would stand in the line of science and would not launch any vaccine unless its safety is confirmed.
