Covishield developer AstraZeneca admits its vaccine can cause side effects in 'very rare cases'

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has admitted for the first time that their Covid vaccine can cause a rare side effect called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome.

The confession that can cost the company a multi-million pound legal payout came in court documents amid a class action where AstraZeneca is being sued after claims that their vaccines have led to deaths and serious injuries in multiple cases in the past, as per a report in Telegraph UK.

It is noteworthy that the Covid-19 vaccine Covishield developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, was produced by the Serum Institute of India and widely utilised in India.

What is TTS?

Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome or TTS is a very rare syndrome that occurs when a person has blood clots as well as low platelet count.

TTS is also known as 'vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia' (VITT).

Symptoms of TTS occur between 2-42 days of taking the vaccine and it risk is reportedly slightly higher in people over 60 years of age, as per a report in Health Direct.

In India, a leading private facility in Delhi had in October 2021 said that seven cases of Covid vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) had been reported via "gold standard tests" at the facility, and one of the patients died due to complications.

Doctors at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) claimed that the "first case" of VITT in India was recorded in June 2021 when a young patient's serum sample was sent to the facility from Army Hospital (Resesrch & Referral) at Delhi Cantonment, and confirmed with the "gold standard test".

Unfortunately, due to "late referral", the person could not survive.

Such cases have been reported since early 2021 from Denmark, the UK, Germany and Canada and, on August 11, the UN had issued guidelines for diagnosis and management of TTS, as reported by PTI.

In 2023, a case was filed against the giant by Jamie Scott, a father of two who claimed that he has been left with a permanent brain injury after developing a blood clot upon receiving the vaccine in April 2021.

While AstraZeneca is contesting these claims, it has acknowledged in a document that its Covid vaccine can cause TTS in very rare cases, as quoted by the publication.

“It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known," the company has said in a confession in February.

This confession of AstraZeneca is contrary to its 2023 claim when they told the lawyers of Scott: “We do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level”.

While lawyers argue that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is “defective”, the company has repeatedly claimed that TTS can even occur in the absence of an AstraZeneca vaccine.

Meanwhile, Scott's wife told Telegraph that while AstraZeneca's admission is a progress, she still expects more from the government and the company.

“The medical world has acknowledged for a long time that VITT was caused by the vaccine. It’s only AstraZeneca who have questioned whether Jamie’s condition was caused by the jab...It’s taken three years for this admission to come. It’s progress, but we would like to see more from them and the Government. It’s time for things to move more quickly."

(With PTI inputs)