Oxford coronavirus vaccine hits a pause: Why this halt is a good disruption

As the world ardently waits for a vaccine to arrive in time, COVID vaccine race hit a roadblock this week. The Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, considered to be one of the safest and the most promising vaccines was halted after a patient developed severe neurological side-effects. The trials, which were in phase II of testing were also halted in centres across India as well.

The news went out on Tuesday evening (September 8), nearly a month and a half after the company started the third leg of its human clinical trials. AstraZeneca maintains that the halt was a “voluntary” and “routine action” that happens “whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials”, adding that they are still researching if the adverse reaction was because of the vaccine or something else.

Even though the recently encountered hiccup has yet not pushed the vaccine out of the race, it made experts and medical authorities realize one of the most alarming outcomes- what if a vaccine doesn't deliver required results or lets out adverse side effects?

Still, the pause in the trials, even though disappointing may not be as bad as we seem. Yes, it does bring us closer to realizing our worst fears with a COVID vaccine, but it also gives authorities more time to reflect and work on the shortcomings. Here are some reasons why the Oxford trial hitting a pause is not all bad news:

Expecting side-effects like this is not uncommon. It can happen in any vaccine trial. Critical phase III trials map out the efficacy rates, reactogenicity response as well as safety rates, which was what the Oxford vaccine, too aimed to study.

However, since the side-effects carry the most risks for those belonging to a vulnerable age group (like having frail immunity, pre-existing conditions, pregnant women and children), spotting a shortcoming like this could help identify problems and develop a more workable vaccine for those at-risk. In the future, it could safeguard billions from the burden of experiencing side-effects as well. This is also the reason why traditional vaccine trials take up to 3-4 years time to complete before it is marked safe for public use. Expediting trials, rushing the job could only make matters worse at such a crucial stage.

One of the many reasons experts believe 2021, and not 2020 would widely be the year we can have doses of a COVID vaccine ready is because of the safety concerns. Having a longer timeline, like 2021 would allow researchers to identify adversities, test the vaccine in a wider group of volunteers and make it workable for all age groups. With newer symptoms and studies being done related to COVID-19, vaccine makers would be in a much more capable situation to develop a safer vaccine. There are good odds that we'll also have more than once vaccine ready to serve millions at risk.

Currently, as countries suffer through the infection surges, the race to develop a vaccine has also become highly politicised.

There's also news about vaccines being given accelerated approvals, funding, reserving doses, strategic partnerships which some say, push the focus away from delivering a safe vaccine.

Remember, despite the many vaccines currently being worked on, none have proven to be a complete and effective preventive dose for the pandemic. Thus, the recent shortcoming should be solely treated as a reason why one must adopt a careful approach, not take shortcuts and work on devising a safe vaccine.

In the rush to deliver a vaccine first, several vaccine groups have started the process of simultaneously rolling out the vaccine and conducting late-scale trials at the same time. This has been done by vaccine makers from countries like China, Russia, which have been marred by controversies. While Oxford researchers have been investigating the vaccine efficacy from the early months, the neurological complication was only realized in phase III of the trial. This is the reason why experts have long been suggesting that we shouldn't be rushing work on a vaccine. A phase III trial identifies shortcomings and give experts time to correct them before making it safe for public use.

If phase III trials are ignored, it could expose millions to breaches and safety risks and posit additional health complications-mild, moderate or severe. Unsafe testing mechanism could also further push anti-vaxxers against using these vaccines.