Why Oxford-AstraZeneca Pausing COVID Vaccine Trial is a Good Sign

<div>The COVID vaccine race has faced a hurdle, after a participant in the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials developed neurological symptoms, prompting the company to pause the trials voluntarily.<br> <br> </div> <div>Health care news publication <em>Stat</em> reported that the participant was a woman from the and she did receive the vaccine as opposed to a placebo and that her symptoms were similar to a rare but serious spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis.<br> <br> </div> <div>Now the AstraZeneca-Oxford research has been the frontrunner in the global race for a COVID-19 vaccine as we know, and this hurdle has triggered a global shutdown of the phase 2 and phase 3 trials.<br> <br> </div> <div>As questions are rife on social media over this development, are these snags normal or does this call for a re-assessment of this vaccine race? And secondly, what’s the road ahead on the trial timeline? Tune in to The Big Story!<br> <br> <strong>Producer and Host: </strong>Shorbori Purkayastha<br> <strong>Guests: </strong>Professor Giridhar R. Babu, Head of Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India</div> <div> <strong>Editor:</strong> Shelly Walia<br> <br> </div> <div> <strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz<br> <br> <strong>Listen to The Big Story podcast on:</strong> </div> <div><br> </div> <div>Apple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">https://apple.co/2AYdLIl</a> </div> <div>Saavn: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2oix78C&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">http://bit.ly/2oix78C</a> </div> <div>Google Podcasts: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2ntMV7S&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;ev