AstraZeneca may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data related to the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Tuesday.
The British pharmaceutical company said in a statement on Monday morning that the Phase III trial of its COVID-19 vaccine – which was conducted in the United States – showed a 79% effectiveness in preventing symptomatic infections and an efficacy of 100 % “in the prevention of serious illness and hospitalization.”
Later on Monday, the Data and Security Monitoring Council [DSMB] notified AstraZeneca, NIAID and the Advanced Biomedical Research and Development Authority [BARDA] who was concerned about the information released by the company about the initial data from its clinical trial with the COVID-19 vaccine, wrote the NIAID in a statement.
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A police officer receives an injection with AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in Munich, Germany, on March 2, 2021. (Sven Hoppe / dpa via AP, Archive)
“The DSMB expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that study, which may have provided an incomplete view of the efficacy data,” according to the statement. “We urge the company to work with the DSMB to review effectiveness data and ensure that the most accurate and up-to-date effectiveness data is made public as soon as possible.”
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to an overnight request for comment from Fox News.
The request to review the efficacy data comes at a time when the company plans to seek emergency US authorization for the vaccine in the coming weeks.
The authorization and guidelines for the use of the vaccine in the United States will be determined by the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] after a “complete review of the data by independent advisory committees”, according to the statement.
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This week, AstraZeneca’s president in the United States, Ruud Dobber, said the company will be able to provide 30 million doses to Americans as soon as the vaccine is released for emergency use authorization.
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Dobber recently sought to assure the American public that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine was safe, despite concerns about links to potential blood clots raised in Europe.
Fox News’ Brittany De Lea, ‘Edmund DeMarche and Fox Business’, contributed to this report