In late April, global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca first recognized that its COVID-19 vaccine could cause a rare side effect of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome. The phenomenon results in blood clots and a reduced platelet count.
“AstraZeneca's Oxford COVID vaccine is being recalled worldwide... The vaccine is being withdrawn from markets for commercial reasons,” the publication reported.
It was claimed the vaccine will no longer be produced and supplied as it has been replaced by updated vaccines. According to the newspaper, the company will withdraw authorizations to sell the vaccine in other countries, including the UK. The vaccine will no longer be allowed to be used in the EU and the company has “no approval at all” to use the vaccine in the US.
AstraZeneca insists that the decision to recall the vaccine is not related to the recognition that it causes serious side effects, the Telegraph reports. The company claimed that this is a “pure coincidence”.
It has previously been reported that AstraZeneca is facing a class action lawsuit because a vaccine it co-developed with Oxford University caused serious harm or death to patients. In May 2022, the Repubblica newspaper reported that the family of Francesca Tuscano, an Italian woman who died in April 2021 after being vaccinated against the coronavirus, had initiated an investigation. The family of the 32-year-old teacher contacted a medical examiner and a hematologist, who determined that the patient's demise could reasonably be attributed to side effects from the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine. The woman died at San Martino Hospital from cerebral vascular thrombosis the day after the AstraZeneca vaccine was administered.