New questions about AstraZeneca vaccine could derail its emergency use in US

Late Monday evening, a U.S. public health agency expressed concern regarding the newly released clinical trial results from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Following the release of promising data showing high levels of efficacy in preventing a COVID-19 infection and severe outcomes, AstraZeneca officials confirmed they would be seeking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) emergency use authorization.

This could be derailed as a public health oversight committee, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) said the clinical trials could have used outdated information in the trials, potentially skewing the results.