Covishield maker AstraZeneca admits Covid vaccine can cause rare side effects

For the first time post Covid period, the Covishield vaccine maker AstraZeneca has admitted that its vaccine can cause rare side effects. In India, Serum Institute of India (SII) has manufactured and supplied the Covishield through a licence from the university and the Swedish-British drugmaker.

AstraZeneca, in collaboration with The University of Oxford, had developed AZD1222 vaccine after the Covis outbreak in 2020. AstraZeneca admitted in a legal document submitted to the High Court in February, that its Covid vaccine “can, in very rare cases, cause TTS” which causes people to have blood clots and a low blood platelet count.

Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) is a rare but serious condition associated with certain COVID-19 vaccines, particularly adenovirus vector vaccines like AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine. Lawyers have argued that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is “defective” and that its efficacy has been “vastly overstated.” AstraZeneca has strongly denied these claims.

AstraZeneca is facing a class action lawsuit in the UK over claims that its vaccine caused deaths and severe injuries in several cases. Victims in as many as 51 cases in the UK High Court are seeking damages up to 100 million pounds.

Jamie Scott, the first complainant in the case, had alleged that he had received the vaccine in April 2021 which caused him a permanent brain injury after a blood clot. This has prevented him from working and the hospital even told his wife thrice that he’s going to die, he claimed.