Britain's leading pharma company AstraZeneca, which has provided the vaccine worldwide during the Covid pandemic, has started recalling it from the market. Many complaints of blood clotting and low platelet count have been registered against its vaccine 'Vaxjaveria'. However, the company has claimed in the statement that a new version of the vaccine is available, hence the old stock has started being ordered.
Serum Institute of India, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, had made 'Covishield' vaccine available in India. AstraZeneca developed the Covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with Oxford University. It was made available as Vaxjavria in Europe and Covishield in India.
The European Union (EU) drug regulator the European Medicines Agency issued a notice on Tuesday confirming that Vaxzevria is no longer authorized for use in the 27-member economic bloc.
The company had decided to recall the vaccine in March itself. It said the marketing authority is working with regulatory authorities around the world to seek the recall of Vaxzeveria.
The company has accepted side effects in rare cases: According to global media reports, earlier AstraZeneca had admitted that its Covid-19 vaccine could cause side effects in rare cases. Which is called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). More than 2.20 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in India and the majority of them were Covishield. Some people had also complained about the side effects of Covishield.
According to independent estimates, more than 65 lakh lives were saved in the first year of use alone and more than three billion doses were supplied globally, the company said. That said, our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely recognized as a critical component of ending the global pandemic. Many cases are going on in the British court regarding the side effects of AstraZeneca.
Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) on Wednesday said it had stopped manufacturing and supplying additional doses of Covishield in December 2021. AstraZeneca has voluntarily withdrawn "marketing". Its Covid vaccine, sold as Covishield in India and Vaxjavria in Europe, has been approved.