Reputation of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine marred by missteps

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca’s release of encouraging data about its coronavirus vaccine from its U.S. trial raised hopes that the drug company could put a troubled rollout behind it. But just hours after the announcement, American officials expressed concerns that AstraZeneca had included “outdated information” from its study and that it may have provided “an incomplete view of the efficacy data.”

The company said Tuesday that the results it released a day earlier included information through Feb. 17 but appeared to be consistent with more up-to-date data.

Coupled with previous missteps and a recent blood clot scare, experts say the latest stumble could cause lasting harm to efforts to a shot key to global efforts to stop the pandemic and undermine vaccine confidence more broadly.