AstraZeneca has confirmed that it is withdrawing its COVID vaccine, due to what it says is a “surplus of available updated vaccines”.
Billions of doses of the vaccine have been administered worldwide since the rollout began during the pandemic. However, with other vaccines coming to the market, and the AstraZeneca vaccine no longer being manufactured or supplied, the British-Swedish pharmaceutical said on Tuesday that it has initiated a worldwide withdrawal.
In a statement, the company the withdrawal was because “multiple variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there’s a surplus of available updated vaccines”.
The statement added: “Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic. We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
AstraZeneca claimed that independent estimates suggested over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use. However, their statement comes months after the pharma giant admitted the drug could cause very rare but life-threatening injuries.
The company admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.
