VOLUNTEER DOCTOR DIES FROM COVID VACCINE HUMAN TRIALS Partake in article polls in this link Coronavirus AstraZeneca vaccine: Volunteer dies during human trials A volunteer taking part in the trial for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which Australians could be given doses of, has died. Ally Foster allyjfoster OCTOBER 22, 2020 COVID-19 vaccine volunteer reveals side effects A volunteer taking part in human trials for the University of Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine has died, sparking concern and confusion over the circumstances surrounding his death. The man has been named as 28-year-old doctor João Pedro R. Feitosa from Brazil. He was taking part in the Brazilian trials of the coronavirus vaccine candidate being developed by the university and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca when he died on October 15. No official information on the cause of his death has been given, though unofficially, it has been reported he died of complications due to COVID-19. Equally, the vaccine developers are unable to confirm whether Dr Feitosa was on the vaccine or the placebo as part of the trial, however an unnamed person close to the trial process revealed toBloomberg that he had been given the placebo. RELATED: Follow our live coronavirus updates João Pedro R. Feitosa was working as a doctor on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic before his death. Picture: João Pedro R. Feitosa/Facebook João Pedro R. Feitosa was working as a doctor on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic before his death. Picture: João Pedro R. Feitosa/FacebookSource:Facebook RELATED: Mystery infection that could derail vaccine RELATED: Everything you need to know about the free COVID-19 vaccine Anvisa, Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency, confirmed on Wednesday that it had been “formally notified of the case on October 19” and had since received a report on the independent review from the security and evaluation committee overseeing the study. It seems the trials will continue to go ahead despite the death, with organisers of the study saying the independent review concluded there were no safety concerns and that testing of the vaccine could go on. “All significant medical incidents, whether participants are in the control group or the COVID-19 vaccine group, are independently reviewed,” the University of Oxford said in a statement. “Following careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about safety of the clinical trial, and the independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator have recommended that the trial should continue.” NED-2139-Oxford-covid-vaccine - 0 AstraZeneca also confirmed the trials would be going ahead as planned, saying an assessment of the death did not reveal “any concerns about continuation of the ongoing study”. It is understood that 50 per cent of trial volunteers are given the vaccination and the other half are given a placebo. The developers of the vaccine would not confirm which group Dr Feitosa was in, saying they are prevented from giving details on candidates due to medical confidentiality. However, Bloomberg reported an unnamed person close to the trial process said Dr Feitosa had been given the placebo. This statement appeared to be backed up by another source familiar with the situation, with the person telling Reuters that the trial would have been suspended if the candidate was part of the group that had received the vaccine. Would you take a COVID-19 vaccine? Yes No Cast your vote Mystery has also surrounded the exact cause of Dr Feitosa’s death, with officials involved in the trial again saying that data on the volunteers “must be kept confidential, in accordance with principles of confidentiality, human dignity and protection of participants”. However Brazilian media outlet, Globo, reported Dr Feitosa, who had been working on the front lines of the pandemic, died of complications from COVID-19. He graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) last year, and was reportedly in good health prior to contracting the disease. RELATED: 1.7 million lost Aussies due to COVID Following Dr Feitosa’s death, UFRJ released a statement, confirming he had died “from the COVID-19 infection he contracted while working on the front lines in the fight against the pandemic”. read on https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccine-volunteer-dies-during-human-trials/news-story/f361f594d6ef70bccb1bc41064ebb31e