SYDNEY (Kyodo) — Australia has abandoned trials of a locally developed coronavirus vaccine after several test subjects returned false positive results for HIV tests, vaccine developers said Friday.
The vaccine, which was being developed by the University of Queensland and biotech company CSL, did not cause any test participants to contract the autoimmune disease, but its trial was ended to preserve public confidence in new vaccines.
“Trial participants were fully informed of the possibility of a partial immune response…but it was unexpected that the levels induced would interfere with certain HIV tests,” a joint statement from the developers said.
Scientists said that while it would be possible to re-engineer the now-scrapped vaccine, it would take another 12 months, which, in the context of other vaccines already being rolled out, would be a considerable amount of time.
“While this is a tough decision to take, the urgent need for a vaccine has to be everyone’s priority,” said University of Queensland professor and vaccine co-lead Paul Young.
Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government would secure additional supplies of other vaccines to ensure provision for the nation of roughly 25 million.
Australia has secured over 140 million vaccine units through a combination of deals between with AstraZeneca, Novavax and Pfizer, which has recently rolled out its vaccine in Britain.
According to Health Minister Greg Hunt, Australia has one of the highest ratios of vaccine purchases and availability to population in the world.
Following strict lockdown measures and bans on international travel during the early stages of the pandemic, Australia has contained the virus’s spread, with 28,000 total confirmed cases and 908 deaths.