Covid-19 roundup: As­traZeneca paus­es vac­cine tri­al for chil­dren as blood clot probe con­tin­ues; EMA to in­ves­ti­gate whether Sput­nik V tri­als met GCP stan­dards — re­port

As­traZeneca and part­ners at Ox­ford Uni­ver­si­ty have halt­ed dos­ing of their Covid-19 vac­cine to chil­dren in a small clin­i­cal tri­al in the lat­est hic­cup caused by safe­ty scares.

MHRA — the UK’s med­i­cines reg­u­la­tor — has been con­duct­ing what they called a “thor­ough and de­tailed re­view” to in­ves­ti­gate a pos­si­ble link be­tween the vac­cine and rare blood clots in adults.

“Whilst there are no safe­ty con­cerns in the pae­di­atric clin­i­cal tri­al, we await ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion from the MHRA on its re­view of rare cas­es of throm­bo­sis/throm­bo­cy­topae­nia that have been re­port­ed in adults, be­fore giv­ing any fur­ther vac­ci­na­tions in the tri­al,” An­drew Pol­lard, chief in­ves­ti­ga­tor of the tri­al, told the BBC.

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