AstraZeneca withdraws Covid vaccine globally

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a 'surplus of available updated vaccines' since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

'As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines,' the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

The pharmaceutical giant is facing a 100 million pound lawsuit in UK over claims that the Covid jab caused deaths and injuries to several people. AstraZeneca admitted in one of the court documents in February that Covishield can 'in very rare cases, cause TTS or Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome'.

TTS causes blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans and has been linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK. However, the vaccine maker has denied that the decision to withdraw Covishield is linked to the court case.