AstraZeneca withdraws its Covid-19 vaccine from the market. The announcement came directly from the company which justified its decision with "thesurplus of updated vaccines availablethe". Simply put, there is little demand and there are many vaccines available. The company also added that it will withdraw the marketing authorizations for Vaxzevria (the scientific name of the vaccine) in Europe.
AstraZeneca withdraws its Covid-19 vaccine worldwide
The decision follows the official note from AstraZeneca which announced the stop the marketing of the vaccine in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency issued a warning on Tuesday that the vaccine is no longer authorized for use, while in the US it had never received the green light from medical and pharmaceutical authorities. The withdrawal will therefore affect the rest of the world, including the UK, where the vaccine was born.
“As numerous updated vaccines have been developed for Covid-19 variants, there is now a surplus of sera available. This caused a decrease in demand of Vaxzervria, which is no longer produced or supplied,” explained the pharmaceutical company.
“We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global Coronarivus pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6,5 million lives were saved only in the first year of use, while beyond three billion doses have been administered globally. Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world,” added the company which does not associate the recall with ongoing litigation in the UK.
The AstraZeneca vaccine and thrombosis
A few weeks ago, at the end of April, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time in court documents during legal proceedings in London that its Covid vaccine can cause thrombosis as a rare side effect. The admission could pave the way for multimillion-dollar settlements, according to British media.
Following a lawsuit brought by fifty families against the company, AstraZeneca had in fact admitted in Court that in some very rare cases the vaccine would have caused blood clots, a decrease in platelets and serious pathologies such as thrombosis with thrombocytopenic syndrome. The trials are still ongoing, but 12 of the 51 families who had sued the pharmaceutical giant have announced that they have given up pursuing their claim for damages before the High Court of the British capital.
In over three years of use and three billion doses administered worldwide, the Astrazeneca vaccine has been blamed 81 deaths in the UK for suspected thrombosis with thrombocytopenic syndrome and serious side effects in hundreds of other cases. A very rare phenomenon, therefore, especially when compared to the periods in which Covid-19 recorded a relatively high mortality rate.
