Mubasher: Johnson & Johnson had temporarily paused its COVID-19 vaccine candidate clinical trials due to an unexplained illness in a study participant, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

The participant’s illness is being reviewed and evaluated by an independent data and safety monitoring board as well as the company’s clinical and safety physicians.

J&J affirmed that such pauses are normal in big trials, which can include tens of thousands of people. It noted that the study pause in giving doses of the vaccine candidate was different from a regulatory hold required by health authorities. The current case is a pause.

J&J’s move, which delayed one of the highest-profile efforts to contain the global pandemic, follows a similar one by AstraZeneca last month.

In September, the British group suspended global trials of its experimental coronavirus vaccine, which it develops with the University of Oxford, after an unexplained illness in a participant.

On 22 September, J&J became the fourth Warp-Speed participant to enter the final stage of testing on humans, aiming to enrol 60,000 volunteers in the US and abroad.

Last month, J&J said its experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response against the novel coronavirus in an early-to-mid stage clinical trial.

While Astra’s trials in Britain, Brazil, South Africa, and India have resumed, the US trial is still on hold, pending a regulatory review.