“Commercial Reasons”: AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine Days After Admitting Side Effects

AstraZeneca, the pharmaceutical giant, withdrew the Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, according to reports. The move came days after the firm acknowledged in court document that the vaccine can cause a rare and dangerous side effects. However, the pharmaceutical firm attributed the decision to withdraw the vaccine to “commercial reasons”.

Reportedly, the company said that the vaccine is no longer being manufactured or supplied. The firm called the decision “purely coincidental”, as reported by The Telegraph. The pharma company said that the decision to withdraw the vaccine does not have anything to do with its admission that it can cause TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome).

Since the company voluntarily withdrew its “marketing authorisation”, the vaccine cannot be authorised for the use in the European Union. The withdrawal application was submitted on March 5, and it took effect on Tuesday 7th March.

The application of withdrawal will be submitted in UK and the other countries that previously approved the vaccine, which is also known as Vaxzevria. The vaccine is under global scrutiny due to the said rare side effect that cause blood clots and low blood platelet counts. In court documents that was filed in the High Court in February, the pharmaceutical giant admitted that the vaccine “can, in very rare cases, cause TTS”.

Reportedly, the vaccine has been associated with at least 81 deaths and numerous serious injuries in UK. The pharmaceutical faces over 50 lawsuits from alleged victims and bereaved relatives of the victims of the vaccine.

AstraZeneca said, “we are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally. Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic”, as quoted by Telegraph.

The London-listed AstraZeneca began to move into the respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after observing the slow down in growth after Covid-19 vaccine sales declined.