AstraZeneca to resume COVID-19 vaccine trials
12 September 2020
AstraZeneca announced on Saturday it's resuming its COVID-19 vaccine trials after pausing earlier this week when a participant fell ill.
The state of play: A statement from AstraZeneca says the Medicines Health Regulatory Authority approved the company's vaccine trials through the University fo Oxford to continue.
- AstraZeneca added that it will "continue to work with health authorities across the world and be guided as to when other clinical trials can resume to provide the vaccine broadly, equitably and at no profit during this pandemic."
- The patient who was negatively impacted by the vaccine reportedly suffered a neurological reaction.
- Statements from AstraZeneca and Oxford didn’t reveal anything about the status of tests beyond the U.K.
The big picture: A number of coronavirus vaccines are in phase 3 trials, but AstraZeneca remains a frontrunner. The company says it hopes to complete its vaccine by year's end.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.