AstraZeneca acknowledges that Covishield, the Covid vaccine, may have rare side effects.
The pharmaceutical company faces allegations that its Covid-19 vaccine, created in collaboration with the University of Oxford, resulted in fatalities and severe injuries, including TTS, and is being sued in a class action lawsuit.
The Telegraph said on Sunday that AstraZeneca had finally acknowledged in court documents that the Covid vaccine can have uncommon side effects, opening the door for a multi-million pound settlement.
The pharmaceutical company is facing a class action lawsuit alleging that the Covid-19 vaccine it developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford resulted in fatalities and severe injuries, including thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS), which lowers platelet counts and causes blood clots.
After the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, AstraZeneca and The University of Oxford worked together to develop the AZD1222 vaccine. Under licence from the university and the Swedish-British drugmaker, Serum Institute of India (SII) produced and supplied it under the name “Covishield” in India and other low- and middle-income nations.
The Telegraph reports that although AstraZeneca is disputing the allegations, the company acknowledged in a court filing filed in February that the Covid vaccine “may, in very rare cases, cause TTS.”
Attorneys have claimed that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is “defective” and that there has been a “vast overstatement” of its effectiveness. AstraZeneca rejected these allegations strongly. According to the report, victims and their grieving relatives have filed 51 cases in the High Court, requesting damages estimated to be worth up to £100 million.
The first case was filed in 2023 by Jamie Scott, who after receiving the vaccine in April 2021 suffered a blood clot and a brain bleed that left him permanently disabled. AstraZeneca responded to attorneys representing Mr Scott in May 2023 with a letter stating, “We do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level.”
The vaccine was “safe and effective for all individuals aged 18 and above,” according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the side effect that sparked the lawsuit was “very rare.”
