British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has acknowledged that its Covid vaccine, Covishield, can lead to rare side effects, including a condition causing blood clots and low platelet count. Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, has been widely administered in the country.
AstraZeneca is currently facing a class action lawsuit in the UK over allegations that its vaccine resulted in deaths and severe injuries in multiple cases. Victims in 51 cases in the UK High Court are seeking damages up to £100 million.
The first complainant, Jamie Scott, claims to have suffered a permanent brain injury after receiving the vaccine in April 2021, leading to a blood clot. AstraZeneca has contested these claims but admitted in court documents in February that Covishield can, in rare cases, cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), which involves blood clots and low platelet count.
This admission marks a shift from AstraZeneca’s previous stance in 2023, when it denied a generic link between the vaccine and TTS. However, the company continues to deny claims that the vaccine is “defective” and that its efficacy is “vastly overstated.”
The link between Covishield and a new condition called vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) was noted shortly after the vaccine rollout began in 2021. AstraZeneca, however, does not appear to recognize this claim.
