J&J pauses COVID-19 vaccine trials due to unexplained illness in participant

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it has temporarily paused its COVID-19 vaccine candidate clinical trials due to an unexplained illness in a study participant.

The participant's illness is being reviewed and evaluated by an independent data and safety monitoring board as well as the company's clinical and safety physicians, it said (link) in a statement. Stat News reported (link) the pause earlier in the day citing a document sent to outside researchers running the 60,000-patient clinical trial, which stated that a "pausing rule" had been met, the online system used to enroll patients in the study had been closed and the data and safety monitoring board would be convened.