U.S. health officials say AstraZeneca may have skewed vaccine 'efficacy data' with 'outdated information'

AstraZeneca vaccine
(Image credit: Etienne Torbey/AFP/Getty Images)

In an unusual statement issued after midnight on Tuesday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said an independent monitoring board overseeing AstraZeneca's U.S. COVID-19 vaccine trial told the NIAID and the drugmaker late Monday "it was concerned by information released by AstraZeneca on initial data from its COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial." The NIAID, a unit of the National Institutes of Health, is led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's top medical adviser.

AstraZeneca reported early Monday that its vaccine had proved to be 79 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19 in a large U.S. trial, 100 percent effective against serious illness or hospitalization, and carried no increased risk of blood clots. The results were seen as a shot in the arm for the beleaguered vaccine.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.