Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
The vaccine can no longer be used in the European Union after the company voluntarily withdrew its “marketing authorization,” according to the report.
The request to withdraw the vaccine was submitted on March 5 and took effect on May 7, according to the report, which added that similar requests would be made in the United Kingdom and other countries that had approved the vaccine, known as Vaxzevria, in the next few months.
AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca admitted for the first time that its coronavirus vaccine could cause rare side effects such as thrombosis. An effect that was already reported in the middle of the pandemic and that caused the limitation of said road during 2021.
The Spanish subsidiary of AstraZeneca has issued an official statement assessing the situation. A document in which they say: “We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, more than 6.5 million lives were saved and more than 3 billion doses were delivered worldwide in the first year of use alone.”
To which they add: “Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely considered a fundamental component in ending the global pandemic.”
The pharmaceutical company that has carried out this vaccine does not directly link the withdrawal of its vial in Europe with the various judicial processes that have been opened in recent months due to the side effects suffered by various patients. “As multiple updated vaccines have been developed for COVID-19 variants, there is now a surplus of vaccines available. This has caused a decrease in demand for Vaxzervria, which is no longer manufactured or supplied,” they say from AstraZeneca.
Four years after it went on the market, AstraZeneca finally confirmed that its vaccine to fight Covid-19, Vaxzervria, can cause side effects. The company is receiving multiple class action lawsuits in which they claim that this road, developed at the University of Oxford, caused serious injuries and the death of dozens of people.
In a document presented to the Superior Court during the month of February, the pharmaceutical company stated that its coronavirus vaccine can, “in very rare cases, cause TTS (thrombocytopenia thrombosis syndrome).” This syndrome causes people to suffer from blood clots and a low blood platelet count.
“It is recognized that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is unknown. Additionally, TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in any individual case will be a matter of expert evidence,” they detailed before the Superior Court in the document presented. It should be noted that scientists first linked this link between the vaccine and adverse effects in March 2021, shortly after inoculation began to fight the virus.