Zurich, September 11: World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist on Thursday said that AstraZeneca's pause on COVID-19 vaccine is a 'wake-up call' and it should not discourage researchers. According to a Reuters report, Soumya Swaminathan told during a virtual briefing from Geneva that, "This is a wake-up call to recognise that there are ups and downs in clinical development and that we have to be prepared."

As the coronavirus tally across the world continues to rise, countries have become desperate for a vaccine to help end the pandemic. Earlier this week, UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca informed that it had "voluntarily paused" a randomised clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine. The study was paused after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness. AstraZeneca, which is developing the vaccine alongside Oxford University, called it a ‘routine pause’ in the case of ‘an unexplained illness’. COVID-19 Vaccine Update: Oxford-AstraZeneca Coronavirus Vaccine Trial 'Voluntarily Paused' After Unexplained Illness in Volunteer.

On Thursday, the Serum Institute of India paused COVID-19 vaccine trials being conducted across 17 different sites until further instructions from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). The company informed that they will restart the trials, once the AstraZeneca decides to restart. Serum further mentioned that there have been no issues with trials in India, but it is a precautionary measure.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 11, 2020 08:45 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).