Jakarta, IO – Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will immediately recall its Covid-19 vaccine throughout the world and request that the European authorization for its Vaxzevria vaccine brand be pulled.
AstraZeneca provided a number of reasons for the recall, on being the surplus of Covid-19 vaccines, which has an impact on demand for Vaxzevria, per Katadata, Fri (10/5).
“Demand for Vaxzevria is decreasing and it will no longer be produced or supplied,” the company said.
The recall occurred after rare syndrome linked to its vaccine started to emerge, per court documents in a class action lawsuit.
AstraZeneca was sued over claims that the vaccine, developed in collaboration the University of Oxford, has caused deaths and serious injuries in many cases.
AstraZeneca countered this claim. However, legal documents submitted to the High Court last February contradict this.
In the document, AstraZeneca said that its vaccine could, in very rare situations, cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS).
TTS causes some people to experience blood clots and a decrease in platelets in the blood. To date, there have been 51 cases of TTS in the UK.
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Meanwhile, the Indonesian Health Ministry in its response said that it has not found similar cases in the country.
The National Commission for the Study and Management of Post-Immunization Adverse Events (Komnas PP KIPI) chairman Hinky Hindra Irawan Satari confirmed that the AstraZeneca vaccine had been examined and was safe to use.
“The safety and benefits of a vaccine have gone through various stages of clinical trials, including the Covid-19 vaccine to be administered to millions of people, before the authorization was given,” said Hingky. (un)