South Korea's Drug Safety Ministry Considering To Fast-Track UK COVID-19 Vaccine - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) The Ministry of food and Drug Safety of South Korea is discussing whether to accelerate the approval procedure of a candidate coronavirus vaccine developed by UK-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, South Korean media reported on Tuesday.

According to the Yonhap news agency, the ministry has formed a team of officials who were tasked with evaluating the expediency of fast-tracking the vaccine's approval.

The candidate vaccine was jointly developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. It is one of the front-runners on the WHO-monitored list of candidate vaccines on a path to approval once they pass all three required phases of clinical trials.

AstraZeneca's vaccine passed two of three phases so far. The third phase is currently being conducted in the United Kingdom, Brazil and India. The trials were put on hold twice after participants developed side effects, including inflammation of the spinal cord and sclerosis. Last week, a volunteer participant in the trials in Brazil died after inoculated with the vaccine. Nevertheless, the trials have continued.