Several COVID vaccine trials have been placed on pause or temporary pause. Let’s discuss that.

I’m Dr. Jeff Kingsley and welcome to another edition of Riding in Cars with Researchers. I’m on my way to the office right now to review COVID-19 charts. The AstraZeneca trial vaccine trial was placed on a pause a short while back, and then that pause was lifted in several countries. And more recently, Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine candidate has been placed on a pause.

I’ve seen a lot of press somewhat sensationalizing the issue. I want to make sure that you understand that placing a trial on pause is a great thing. It’s precisely how the process is supposed to work. You’ve heard me speak many times about the number one thing we pay attention to is patient safety followed by what’s called data integrity. Patient safety is self-explanatory – making sure that our patients are safe. Data integrity means making sure that the data is worth something, making sure that it’s accurate, and that it has some scientific value. Otherwise, it’s not worth doing.

The fact that these trials got put on hold should be evidence to you that these companies are maintaining their ethics. It should be evidence to you that they are not putting profit ahead of patient safety. These trials cost billions of dollars. Putting a trial on a pause costs these companies a tremendous amount of money, which is evidence that they’re doing the right thing.

The fact that these trials are going on pause in the midst of a pandemic and in the face of political pressure to keep the trials going is, again, evidence that these companies are staying true to their ethics. Put the trial on pause, let the scientific community take a look at what’s going on, and verify whether or not it’s still the right thing to do to proceed with those trials.

Anyway, just wanted to express my thoughts. I see this as a very good thing, and I hope it gives the public some reassurance that there are ethical people leading these trials.

Thanks for riding along!

Send me topics you want me to talk about at jeff.kingsley@centricityresearch.com!

Subscribe to our blog HERE