AstraZeneca announces global withdrawal of COVID-19 vaccine just weeks after blood clots admission

Max Corstorphan
The Nightly
AstraZeneca has decided to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine globally. (AP PHOTO)
AstraZeneca has decided to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine globally. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AP

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has decided to withdraw its COVID-19 vaccine globally after admitting the jab could cause rare side effects.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said: “As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines.”

The announcement comes just weeks after the pharmaceutical company confirmed the vaccine could cause side effects including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (TTS), which is known to cause blood clots.

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In April, The Telegraph revealed legal documents submitted to the UK High Court where the company wrote: “It is admitted that the AstraZeneca vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known.”

AstraZeneca has not been available in Australia since March 2023 after it was linked to TTS, a rare syndrome that occurred in around 2 to 3 people per 100,000 who were given the vaccine.

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.

With REUTERS

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