AstraZeneca Makes Big U-Turn, Admits Covishield Can Cause Rare Side Effects

British pharma giant AstraZeneca has admitted that its Covid vaccine can cause rare side effects, The Telegraph (UK) has reported. Covishield can cause, in rare cases, a condition that leads to blood clots and low platelet count, the vaccine-maker has said in court documents.

Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University during the pandemic, was produced by the Serum Institute of India and widely administered in the country.

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.

The UK government, which has secured AstraZeneca from legal action, is yet to intervene in the matter.

'In Very Rare Cases'

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.

AstraZeneca has contested the claims, but admitted in one of the court documents in February that Covishield can "in very rare cases, cause TTS", the report said.

TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) causes blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans.

"It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known...Further, TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in any individual case will be a matter for expert evidence," AstraZeneca said.

The U-Turn

AstraZeneca made its admission in a legal defence to Scott's claim, which may lead to payouts to the victims and grieving relatives, the report said.

The latest admission also contradicts the company's 2023 stand, in which it had told the lawyers of Jamie Scott that "we do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level".

AstraZeneca has, however, denied the lawyers' claims that the vaccine is "defective" and its efficacy "vastly overstated".

Shortly after the vaccine rollout began in 2021, scientists found a link between Covishield and a new condition called the vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT), which the lawyers claim are a subset of TTS. AstraZeneca does not appear to recognise the claim, the report added.