A billion-dollar deal for Australian Prime Minister Morrison’s government to buy more than 50 million doses of the University of Queensland’s potential coronavirus vaccine has been suddenly cancelled after several trial participants returned false-positive HIV test results.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday that the Government had terminated an order of 51 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and CSL Industries. The vaccine trial has been abandoned and will not proceed into phase two.
Although some participants in the trial returned false-positive HIV test results, a joint statement from CSL and UQ stated: “There is no possibility the vaccine causes infection, and routine follow up tests confirmed there is no HIV virus present.”
Prime Minister Morrison added the government has increased its order for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in the wake of the decision to cancel the CSL trial.
