The European Commission announced this Monday the suspension of marketing of the Vaxzevria vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca to combat Covid. lThe suspension is carried out at the request of the company itself, which on March 5 made a request in this regard to the European authorities. The vaccine will no longer be authorized this Tuesday.
“The marketing of the drug Vaxzevria – Covid-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1-S [recombinante]), registered in the Union Register of Medicinal Products under number EU/1/21/1529, was authorized by Commission Decision C(2021) 698(final) of 29 January 2021. At the request of the holder , said authorization must be withdrawn.”
The withdrawal of the compound is conditional on the adverse effects especially related to thrombosis in very rare cases and which were already reported during the pandemic. NHowever, the company currently has a class action lawsuit open in the United Kingdom involving 51 cases of victims and relatives who are claiming £100 million from AstraZeneca for damages caused by the side effects of the vaccine. AZ assures that the reason for the withdrawal has other reasons: “Since multiple updated vaccines have been developed for covid-19 variants, there is now a surplus of vaccines available. This has caused a decrease in demand for Vaxzervria, which “It is no longer manufactured or supplied.”
Since the pandemic, some 68 million Vaxzevria and was authorized by the European Medicines Agency as “safe and effective”, when it granted marketing authorization for the entire EU. In Spain, according to the figures approved by the Ministry of Health, 9.7 million doses.
In May 2021, the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products announced that it was evaluating three possible side effects of this vaccine: thrombosis syndrome with thrombocytopenia, capillary leak syndrome and Guillain-Barré syndrome.
The text recognized the appearance of venous thromboses in unusual places such as the cerebral venous sinuses (where blood clots prevent drainage to the outside of the brain), or the splanchnic veins (which involve one or more veins of the abdominal organs), and arterial thrombosis. Most cases occurred during the first 14 days after vaccination and in those under 60 years of age; some of the cases were fatal, although no specific risk factors could be identified.
The Aemps included thromboses with thrombocytopenia in the AstraZeneca vaccine leaflet, adding that these cases occurred “very rarely” and alerted patients to the symptoms for immediate attention.
On March 17, 2021the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products issued a statement announced the precautionary suspension of vaccination with this compound. As explained by the Aemps, it had been “reporting over the last week the notification of several rare thrombotic adverse events temporarily related to the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine.” In this context, the majority of countries in the European Union, including Spain, “have considered it prudent to temporarily suspend vaccination with this vaccine while European regulatory agencies evaluate whether or not these events are related to the vaccine”.
An official statement has been issued from the Spanish subsidiary of AZ in which they highlight the crucial role of the vaccine and does not directly link the withdrawal of the vaccine in Europe with the open judicial process, but with a surplus of vaccines available and a decrease in demand.
