Volunteer in AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine trial dies in Brazil

A volunteer in the Brazilian arm of AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine trial has died.   

Brazilian health authority Anvisa stated on Wednesday that it has just received information from an investigation into the death.

The Federal University of Sao Paulo, which is helping coordinate phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil, separately said that the volunteer was Brazilian. 

However, no details are available about where the person lived in addition to their name, age, sex and race.

It is unknown if the death was caused by the vaccine or due to an unrelated pre-existing condition. 

Anvisa, Brazil’s health authority, announced on Wednesday that a volunteer in AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine trial has died  (file image)

Anvisa said testing of the vaccine will continue after the volunteer’s death, but provided no further information, citing medical confidentiality of those involved in trials.  

The federal government already has plans to purchase the UK vaccine and produce it at its biomedical research center FioCruz in Rio de Janeiro, while a competing vaccine from China’s Sinovac is being tested by Sao Paulo state’s research center Butantan Institute.

Brazil has the second deadliest outbreak of coronavirus, with more than 154,000 killed by COVID-19, following only the United States. 

It is the third worst outbreak in terms of cases, with more than 5.2 million infected, after the United States and India

Upon the news, AstraZeneca shares turned negative and were down 1.7 percent.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.