NIH 'very concerned' about serious side effect in AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine trial

NIH 'very concerned' about serious side effect in AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine trial

The Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to follow British regulators in resuming a coronavirus vaccine trial that was halted when a participant suffered spinal cord damage, even as the National Institutes of Health has launched an investigation of the case.
"The highest levels of NIH are very concerned," said Dr. Avindra Nath, intramural clinical director and a leader of viral research at the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, an NIH division. "Everyone's hopes are on a vaccine, and if you have a major complication the whole thing could get derailed."



https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/15/healt...ser/index.html

I'd like to point out that unusual reactions like this to vaccines are not unusual at all. Even when we find one (if we do) for COVID-19 that is safe, reliable and effective, there will still be a small percentage of individuals who will have unusual reactions. Any time you go messing with the immune system, strange things happen. Not everyone's immune system responds in the same way. If you remember, when President Carter had the nation immunized for the swine flu in the '70s, there was a small percentage of people that developed Guillian-Barre syndrome. A small percentage, yes, but since it was millions who were immunized, there were more than a few, and we heard all about it.

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not against vaccines. I'm a doctor, and I'll get the COVID-19 vaccine (if there really is one) next year because I'm high risk. That vaccine will save hundreds of thousands of lives. But, don't imagine that we will find one that doesn't also do something weird to some people.