New Delhi:
British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has admitted that its Covid vaccine may cause a rare side effect, The Telegraph (UK) reports. Covishield can rarely cause a condition that leads to blood clots and low platelet counts, the vaccine maker said in court documents.
Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University during the pandemic, was produced by the Serum Institute of India and is being widely administered in the country.
AstraZeneca is facing a class-action lawsuit in Britain over claims that its vaccine has caused deaths and serious injuries in several cases. Victims in no fewer than 51 cases at the British Supreme Court are seeking compensation of up to £100 million.
Jamie Scott, the first complainant in the case, had claimed he received the vaccine in April 2021, which left him with permanent brain damage after suffering a blood clot. This left him unable to work and the hospital even told his wife three times that he was going to die, he claimed.
AstraZeneca has disputed the claims but admitted in one of the court documents in February that Covishield “may cause TTS in very rare cases”, the report said.
TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) causes blood clots and low platelet counts in humans.
“It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can cause TTTS in very rare cases. The causal mechanism is not known… Furthermore, TTS can also occur without the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in each individual The matter will be a matter of expert evidence,” AstraZeneca said.
AstraZeneca has admitted as much in a legal defense against Scott's claim, which could lead to payouts to victims and grieving family members.
The latest admission also contradicts the company's 2023 position, in which it had told Jamie Scott's lawyers that “we do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level”.
However, AstraZeneca has denied lawyers' claims that the vaccine is “defective” and that its efficacy has been “vastly exaggerated”.