11 months ago
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British pharma giant AstraZeneca has admitted that its Covid vaccine can cause a rare side effect, The Telegraph (UK) has reported.
Covishield, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University during the pandemic, was produced by the Serum Institute of India and widely administered in the country. Reports suggest over a billion doses of the vaccine was given in India.
AstraZeneca is facing a class action lawsuit over claims that its vaccine caused deaths and severe injuries in several cases, with victims in as many as 51 cases in the UK High Court seeking damages up to 100 million pounds.
Jamie Scott, the first complainant in the case, has alleged that he had received the vaccine in April 2021 which caused him a permanent brain injury after a blood clot. This has prevented him from working and the hospital even told his wife thrice that he's going to die, he claimed.
AstraZeneca has contested the claims, but admitted in one of the court documents in February that Covishield can "in very rare cases, cause TTS", the report said.
TTS (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) causes blood clots and a low blood platelet count in humans.
"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," AstraZeneca said.
AstraZeneca made its admission in a legal defence to Scott's claim, which may pave the way for payouts to the victims and grieving relatives.
The latest admission also contradicts the company's 2023 stand, in which it had told the lawyers of Jamie Scott that "we do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level".
AstraZeneca has, however, denied lawyers' claims that the vaccine is "defective" and its efficacy "vastly overstated".
English (US) ·