Researchers at the University of Queensland and Australian bio-pharmaceutical major CSL said Friday that they would not move forward with their own vaccine candidate because a protein in the shot triggered false positive results for HIV. Follow up tests confirmed that no HIV was present, the researchers were quick to add in a formal statement.
The vaccine had proven safe and produced a "robust response" to COVID-19 during Phase One trials, researchers said. While it would have been possible to re-engineer the vaccine to avoid the problem with false positives, this would have taken too much time in the midst of the pandemic, they said.
"Doing so would set back development by another 12 or so months, and while this is a tough decision to take, the urgent need for a vaccine has to be everyone's priority," said Professor Paul Young, co-leader of the project.
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Craig Wilson, 6 minutes ago