AstraZeneca vaccine to be withdrawn due to ‘dangerous side effect’

• AstraZeneca has admitted that its vaccine causes TTS, blood clots.
• the company’s Vaxzevria has been linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK.
• 50 people sued the vaccine manufacturer over its side effects.
  

Renowned pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has announced the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine Vaxzevria, months after recognizing the vaccine’s “rare and dangerous side effect”. The Telegraph mentionted.

According to the publication, the vaccine in question has come under scrutiny for a side effect that leads to blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The development comes as the company, which has admitted that its vaccine causes Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) in rare cases, faces legal action by 50 alleged victims and relatives of dead people in the High Court for causing the aforementioned side effect.

So far, at least 81 deaths in the UK have been linked to the Vaxzevria vaccine.

However, the company had cited “declining demand” as the reason behind its decision to withdraw the vaccine.

“As multiple vaccines for COVID-19 have since been developed, there is a surplus of updated vaccines available,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement further highlighted that excess stock of newer vaccines has resulted in reduced demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer manufactured or supplied.

In addition, the manufacturer will also withdraw marketing authorizations for Vaxzevria within Europe.

The company’s request to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and became effective on May 7, according to The Telegraphwhich first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after growth slowed as sales of its COVID-19 drugs slumped.

According to the company, as stated The guardianmore than 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over 3 billion doses were administered worldwide.

AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has also been approved for use by the government of Pakistan in its effort to contain the rapid spread of the pandemic in the country.

The vaccine in question consists of another virus that is essentially modified to have the gene for producing a protein from a coronavirus that causes SARS-CoV-2.