London: The pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine is being withdrawn worldwide days after the firm acknowledged in court documents that it can cause a rare and dangerous side effect.
AstraZeneca, in collaboration with The University of Oxford, had developed AZD1222 vaccine after the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2020.
Pertinently, in India, it was manufactured and supplied under the name “Covishield” by Serum Institute of India (SII) through a licence from the university and the Swedish-British drugmaker.
Millions of people received Covishield vaccine doses in India.
AstraZeneca, however, attributed the move to “commercial reasons”. The company reportedly said that the vaccine is no longer being manufactured or supplied.
Calling the decision “purely coincidental”, the pharma giant in a Telegraph report said the withdrawal of vaccine is not linked to its admission that it can cause TTS – Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia Syndrome.
As the company voluntarily withdrew its “marketing authorisation”, the vaccine is no longer authorised for use in the European Union. The withdrawal application was submitted on March 5 and took effect on Tuesday.
Similar withdrawal applications will be submitted in the UK and other countries that had previously approved the vaccine, known as Vaxzevria.
Vaxzevria is under global scrutiny due to a rare side effect causing blood clots and low blood platelet counts. In court documents filed with the High Court in February, AstraZeneca admitted that the vaccine “can, in very rare cases, cause TTS”.
TTS has been associated with at least 81 deaths in the UK, along with numerous serious injuries. AstraZeneca faces lawsuits from over 50 alleged victims and bereaved relatives in a High Court case.
“We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally. Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic,” AstraZeneca said in a Telegraph report.
London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.
