The Covid-19 vaccine trials being conducted by AstraZeneca and Oxford University have been put on hold after the patient experienced an adverse event. | Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

If we want to trust the Covid-19 vaccine, we must be willing to tolerate some bad news.

One of the most promising Covid-19 vaccine candidates, being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, had its Phase 3 trials put on hold after a patient experienced a serious adverse event. That certainly sounds like bad news for everybody eager to have a vaccine as soon as possible.

But hidden in this development is a kernel of good news, if you can call it that: This is exactly the kind of scientific rigor we want biopharma companies to practice — especially amid fears that the US approval of a Covid-19 vaccine could be compromised by politics.

The Oxford