The Covid-19 pandemic has long been declared over, and now, according to documents, the AstraZeneca company has admitted in court for the first time that its corona vaccine Vaxzevria could cause rare side effects. This could mean a turning point for those affected and their relatives, who have sued the company for damages. The British newspaper “The Telegraph” first reported on it.
There are currently proceedings against AstraZeneca in the High Court in London, which are based on a class action lawsuit. 51 cases have been filed with the court since last year. It is estimated that the alleged victims and relatives are seeking damages of up to £100 million. They blame the pharmaceutical company’s vaccine for deaths and serious impairments.
“The Telegraph” quotes court documents in its report: In a response to one of the plaintiffs, AstraZeneca stated that its vaccine “can cause TTS in very rare cases.” The causal mechanism is not known. In a later letter to the plaintiff’s lawyers, AstraZeneca denied that its vaccine caused severe side effects in general: the company would not “recognize that TTS is caused by the vaccine on a general level.”
18 deaths are known in Germany
The fact that the British company’s vaccine can be problematic, especially for younger women, became clear in March 2021, shortly after the vaccine was provisionally approved. It has been shown that Vaxzevria causes so-called thrombocytopenia and thrombosis in rare cases. In specialist circles, this clinical picture is referred to as TTS.
In thrombocytopenia, the number of platelets (thrombocytes) in the blood decreases, which increases the risk of bleeding. In thrombosis, blood clots form, which can block blood vessels. As part of the vaccination campaigns in which the AstraZeneca vaccine was administered to millions of people, there were also deaths as a result of TTS.
The Paul Ehrlich Institute therefore had in April 2021 published the first Red Hand letter, informing doctors and professionals that there are safety concerns with this vaccine. AstraZeneca had already announced back then that “a connection between vaccinations with Vaxzevria” and the occurrence of TTS was considered “plausible”. In the months that followed, these Red Hand letters were continually updated; it was always made clear that thrombocytopenias were very rare and that when they did occur, they usually occurred within the first four weeks after vaccination.
In Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute, 18 patients have been proven to have died as a result of TTS after an AstraZeneca vaccination. The risk was apparently increased especially for younger women; the vaccine is only recommended for older people by the Standing Vaccination Commission. According to the Robert Koch Institute, it has no longer been used in Germany since December 2021.