Fauci Believes AstraZeneca 'Likely A Very Good Vaccine' Despite Outdated Trial Results

After the news about AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial possibly including outdated information was released, Dr. Anthony Fauci has shared his opinion about this not-yet-approved by the Food and Drug Administration vaccine.

The company announced on Monday that its vaccine doses had a 79% efficiency rate and also showed a 100% effective rate when preventing hospitalization and severe disease during the trials, it stated in a press release on Monday.

While these results looked promising, a group that looked over the trial data, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), told the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) that it’s very possible that the data in the trial was incomplete.

"They felt that the data that was in the press release were somewhat outdated and might, in fact, be misleading a bit, and wanted them [DSMB] to straighten it out," said Dr. Fauci.

Dr. Fauci was concerned about this information and explained his professional opinion on Good Morning America on Tuesday, per ABC News.

"It really is unfortunate that this happened. This is really what you call an unforced error because the fact is this is very likely a very good vaccine," he stated. "This kind of thing does ... really cast some doubt about the vaccines and maybe contribute to the hesitancy. It was not necessary."

He went to explain that Americans shouldn't be wary about the vaccine because the FDA will review all aspects of it before it's approved for emergency use.

The company is required to now update its data analysis review and send reports out within 48 hours.

This isn’t the only issue AstraZeneca has had either. Weeks prior to this announcement, the vaccine was suspended in Europe due to some individuals developing blood clots after receiving the vaccine, while these issues haven’t occurred in any U.S. or Mexico patients.