AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company, has made an announcement regarding the withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine from global markets. They claim that the vaccine has been overshadowed by other alternatives.
This decision comes after the company recently acknowledged that the vaccine can potentially cause fatal blood clots in rare cases.
In a statement, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca mentioned that multiple variants of the vaccine have been developed since the beginning of the pandemic, leading to a decrease in demand for their vaccine, which is no longer being manufactured or developed.
The spokesperson also highlighted independent estimates that suggest the vaccine has saved over 6.5 million lives in its first year of use alone and that more than 3 billion doses have been supplied worldwide.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was introduced in early 2021, following the declaration of the Covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Last March, AstraZeneca voluntarily withdrew its market authorization for the vaccine in the EU, with confirmation from the European Medicines Agency.
Shortly after its rollout, the vaccine faced controversy as several Western countries suspended its use due to concerns about potential blood clotting. However, health officials in the EU maintained that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks at that time.
The drug manufacturer has been engaged in a challenging legal battle recently, as a class-action lawsuit alleges that the AstraZeneca vaccine is flawed and less safe than anticipated. The company firmly denies these accusations.
The plaintiffs argue that the vaccine has resulted in Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), a rare condition characterized by blood clots that impede blood flow and a low platelet count, leading to difficulties in clotting. In the UK alone, TTS associated with the vaccine is believed to have caused numerous deaths and severe injuries in hundreds of individuals. Initially, the company refuted any connection between the vaccine and this condition, but in court documents submitted to the UK High Court in February, it acknowledged that “the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS,” while admitting that the causal mechanism remains unknown.
Additionally, the company maintains that the vaccine possesses an acceptable safety profile.
