It's known that the pharma company AstraZeneca and Oxford University have jointly been developing an anti-coronavirus vaccine, which is one of the front-runner vaccine candidates in the world. Clinical trials in this respect have been in late stage of Phase 3.

The news is that the trials have now been stopped voluntarily after a participant developed an unexplained illness. This is a serious adverse reaction. An independent committee will be examining the issue now.

"Temporary halts in medical studies aren't uncommon. Two other vaccines are in final-stage tests in the U.S. by other drug firms," reported The Associated Press.

Such voluntary pausing is a routine procedure in the field of clinical trials. Meanwhile, clinical trials for Russia's Sutnik V, the world's first anti-COVID vaccine, will take place in India, UAE and a couple of other countries from later this month.