The week started with promising news from two of the companies that are working on a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson announced that they are ready to resume the temporarily paused vaccine trials. The decision to halt the trails came after each of them reported that a volunteer got unexpectedly sick.
AstraZeneca was authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration to restart the trials after an inquiry showed that the global safety data showed that it's all safe. AstraZeneca's trial was held in September in the UK after a person developed a neurological condition.
Johnson & Johnson's trial was paused earlier this October after a participant reported an "unexpected illness." At the end of last week, JnJ stated that "no clear cause" led to the illness and that "preparations to resume the trial in the United States are now underway." No clear date was specified when the trial will resume, but according to people familiar with the matter, the event will probably occur next week.
According to government health officials and independent experts, these temporary pauses are setting an example of how safety processes work.
Following the news, AstraZeneca opened 0.87% higher, while Johnson & Johnson is at -0.03%.
Read more about JnJ's situation here!
Sources: edition.cnn.com, finance.yahoo.com
