Why the AstraZeneca vaccine was plagued with errors
In the span of a year, AstraZeneca has gone from favoured child to problem child after a series of unforced errors by the British pharma company turned hope into hesitancy.
AstraZeneca, we have a problem....
Illustration: David Rowe
Apr 16, 2021 – 12.00am
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Mene Pangalos, head of biopharmaceuticals research for AstraZeneca, went to bed on Monday, March 22, feeling good for the first time in a while. After working around the clock through the weekend, he’d just announced better-than-expected interim results from the company’s large US vaccine trial: The shot was safe and 79 per cent effective at preventing cases of symptomatic COVID-19. Positive news, at last, after months of questions about everything including safety and supply shortfalls.