AstraZeneca reported Tuesday that it had initiated a worldwide recall of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available vaccine.”
The British-Swedish drugmaker admitted for the first time last week that its vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infection could cause adverse effects. In official documents, it was made public that these rare adverse effects included thrombosis, a complication that was already known to have caused the product to be restricted for use as early as 2021.
According to media reports, the company has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.
AstraZeneca says the withdrawal of its Vaxzevria vaccine is not directly linked to the multiple court cases that have been opened in recent months because of side effects.
In this regard, the company says that “since multiple updated vaccines have been developed for COVID-19 variants, there is now a surplus of available vaccine. This has led to a decrease in demand for Vaxzervria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.”
The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.
The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7.
Venezuela was one of the countries that did not approve its use. In 2021, the Venezuelan government refused to receive the vaccine.