Hey there! Did you hear the latest news on Covishield? AstraZeneca has recently admitted to rare side effects of the vaccine in court documents. It's definitely worth keeping an eye on as we continue to navigate through the pandemic.
AstraZeneca has acknowledged rare side effects of its Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, according to The Telegraph. Developed with Oxford University and manufactured in India, the vaccine has been widely distributed.
AstraZeneca has admitted in court documents that their vaccine, Covishield, can cause a condition that results in blood clots and low platelet count in rare cases. This admission comes amidst a class-action lawsuit faced by AstraZeneca in the UK, where it is alleged that the vaccine has caused fatalities and severe injuries in several cases. Claimants in 51 cases in the UK High Court are seeking damages amounting to up to £100 million.
The UK government has not yet intervened in this matter despite providing legal protection to AstraZeneca.
The first complainant in the case, Jamie Scott, claims to have suffered a permanent brain injury due to a blood clot after receiving the vaccine in April 2021. This injury has rendered him unable to work, and he alleges that his wife was informed thrice by the hospital that he was on the brink of death.
While AstraZeneca has refuted these claims, it admitted in a court document in February that Covishield can cause TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome), a condition that leads to blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans, in very rare cases.
The company has stated, "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."
This admission, made in a legal defense to Scott’s claim, could potentially lead to payouts to victims and their families. This contradicts the company’s stance in 2023 when it 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 the lawyers’ claims that the vaccine is "defective" and its efficacy "vastly overstated". Shortly after the vaccine rollout began in 2021, scientists discovered a link between Covishield and a new condition called vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT), which the lawyers claim is a subset of TTS. AstraZeneca does not appear to recognize this claim.
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