OAN’s Brooke Mallory
2:51 PM – Thursday, May 9, 2024
The UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca announced on Wednesday that it would be withdrawing its COVID-19 vaccine, allegedly due to “decreased demand.”
AstraZeneca is currently the sixth largest pharma company in the world, companiesmarketcap.com reported.
According to a statement from an AstraZeneca representative, demand for AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria vaccine started to decline when “new vaccinations catered to particular COVID variations” surfaced on the market.
“As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzervria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied,” the statement said.
AstraZeneca declared in a rather vague statement that the company would now collaborate with partners and regulators to determine both a course of action and a “path forward.”
In order to discontinue its promotion of the vaccine, AstraZeneca voluntarily withdrew its marketing license in the European Union in March 2024.
Millions of individuals worldwide received the Vaxzevria vaccine, which was created in collaboration with the University of Oxford. It was among the first treatments against COVID-19 to be released onto the market during the pandemic.
In January 2021, the United Kingdom became the first to provide the vaccine, almost one year after the World Health Organization (WHO) initially characterized the COVID-19 virus.
AstraZeneca’s product has raised questions about adverse effects after a number of people started developing blood clots and other issues like “low blood platelet counts” that were connected to the shot.
Jamie Scott, an IT engineer and father of two, is one of the plaintiffs named in a filed AstraZeneca lawsuit. After receiving the vaccination in April 2021, he developed a blood clot that permanently damaged his brain.
“AstraZeneca initially denied a causal link between the vaccine and this particular side-effect, but later admitted in court documents that the vaccine could cause TTS,” according to Business Insider India.
However, on Wednesday, the pharmaceutical company still expressed pride in the vaccine’s “contribution” to the pandemic.
“According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone, and over three billion doses were supplied globally,” the statement said.
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