AstraZeneca withdraws its anti-coronavirus vaccine after discovering a serious side effect

The British-Swedish company AstraZeneca began withdrawing its Vaxzevria vaccine against the Corona virus, months after it discovered a serious side effect.

The company said that it was withdrawing the vaccine for commercial reasons, adding that the vaccine was not manufactured or supplied due to the emergence of new vaccines that deal with new versions of the virus.

After the company's decision, which was taken on March 5 and took effect on Tuesday, it is not possible to use its vaccine in the European Union legally.

Similar decisions are expected to be issued in Britain and some other countries that have issued licenses to use the vaccine.

In recent months, a rare side effect of the vaccine has been discovered, which causes blood clots and low blood platelets.

AstraZeneca admitted in documents submitted to the judiciary last February that its vaccine may cause blood clotting and thrombocytopenia syndrome in some cases.

It is noteworthy that blood clotting has caused at least 81 deaths in Britain, and hundreds of serious injuries. The families of more than 50 victims have filed lawsuits against AstraZeneca.

The company insists that its decision to withdraw the vaccine is not related to lawsuits or the possibility of it causing the aforementioned health problems. She expressed her "pride" in the role that the Vaxzevria vaccine played in fighting the Corna virus epidemic, as about 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of using the vaccine, with more than 3 billion doses distributed around the world.

The company indicated that the emergence of many mutated versions of the virus led to the development of many updated vaccines, which led to a decrease in demand for Vaxzevria, which is not currently manufactured or distributed, adding that it decided to withdraw it for this very reason.