AstraZeneca admits Covishield may lead to rare side effect: Reports

Guwahati, April 30: The UK pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which developed the Covid vaccine–Covishield, has admitted in court documents that the vaccine can cause rare side effects and, in some cases, a condition that leads to blood clots and a low platelet count.

Covidshield, created in collaboration with Oxford University during the pandemic, was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and widely distributed as part of the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.

The admission by AstraZeneca emerged during ongoing litigation in the United Kingdom over claims that its vaccine caused deaths and severe injuries in several cases. Victims in as many as 51 cases in the UK High Court are seeking damages up to 100 million pounds.

The first complainant, Jamie Scott, claimed to have suffered a permanent brain injury due to Covishield after a blood clot formed post-vaccination in April 2021, rendering him unable to work.

"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," reports quoted AstraZeneca as saying.

TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) causes blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans.

Although AstraZeneca contested the allegations, it admitted in February that Covidshield can lead to TTS in very rare instances. This admission contradicts its earlier stance in 2023, where it denied the vaccine’s role in causing TTS at a generic level.