AstraZeneca boss says Covid-19 vaccine may still be ready by end 2020

AstraZeneca's boss said that the Covid-19 vaccine that it was developing together with the University of Oxford could still be ready by the end of 2020.

In remarks at an online conference on Thursday, Pascal Soriot explained that it was not yet clear whether the clinical trial participant which had become ill was suffering from transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the tissues around the spinal cord.

The adverse event had led the firm to pause its clinical trial in order to determine exactly what illness was afflicting the volunteer and whether it was linked to the its vaccine.

"The reality is we all have to be very patient and see how it unfolds," Soriot said.

An independent panel would decide whether to resume the trial.

Soriot also said that he could not speculate regarding for how long the trial might be halted.