Australia COVID vaccine caused false HIV tests
Australia has cancelled the production of a domestic coronavirus vaccine after trials showed that it could lead to false positive tests for HIV.
The developers of the drug -- the University of Queensland and a biotech firm, CSL -- report that the vaccine did show a robust response to combating COVID-19 in a Phase 1 trial, but finding a fix to the HIV problem could take another year of research.
The vaccine was one of four candidates contracted by the Australian government.
CSL and the Australian government had together decided to stop Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials.
The government has instead secured additional doses of rival vaccines, such as Novavax.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline's candidate have also reported setbacks.
On Friday the companies said that clinical trials showed that their own vaccine created what they called a quote, "low immune response" in older people.
It means a potential vaccine launch from them may be delayed until the end end of next year.
