Coronavirus: AstraZeneca vaccine trial volunteer dies in Brazil, testing to continue

On Wednesday, Anvisa, Brazilian health authority confirmed that a volunteer in a clinical trial of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca NSE -1.93 % and Oxford University had died, but the trial would continue.

Oxford confirmed the plan to continue trials, saying in a statement that after careful assessment "there have been no concerns about the safety of the clinical trial." Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the volunteer had been given a placebo and not the trial vaccine, citing unnamed sources.

Anvisa provided no further details, citing medical confidentiality of those involved in trials.

AstraZeneca didn't comment immediately. The Federal University of Sao Paulo is helping coordinate phase 3 clinical trials in Brazil, individually said the volunteer was Brazilian without disclosing where the person lived.

AstraZeneca shares came down by 1.7%.

The federal government is planning to purchase the UK vaccine and produce it at its biomedical research centre FioCruz in Rio de Janeiro. In contrast, a competing vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd is being tested by Sao Paulo state's research centre Butantan Institute.

Brazil has more than 154,000 killed by COVID-19, it has the second deadliest outbreak of coronavirus, after the United States. It has more than 5.2 million infected, the third-largest number of cases, after the United States.