Was COVID Vaccine Recalled Over Health Danger Fears? What We Know

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has initiated a global withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine just months after it admitted it could cause a rare side effect.

The news sparked speculation on social media that the vaccine was being withdrawn because of concerns about associated health risks.

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However, the British-Swedish company said that the decision was made purely for commercial reasons after a decline in demand because of a "surplus of available updated vaccines."

"As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied," the company said in a statement, according to The Telegraph, which first reported the news. AstraZeneca changed the name of its COVID vaccine to Vaxzevria in 2021.

Despite media reports and social media speculation, AstraZeneca has withdrawn the vaccine, but not recalled it.

A recall, which would mean the medication was removed from shelves, typically takes place when there are safety concerns, defects, or regulatory issues posing risks to public health. A withdrawal means that the vaccine is no longer being actively manufactured or supplied by the company.

AstraZeneca noted that independent estimates say that over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of the vaccine's use and that over three billion doses were supplied globally.

The company said it had withdrawn its marketing authorizations for the vaccine in the European Union on March 5, which came into effect on May 7.

AstraZeneca will make similar applications in the coming months in the U.K. and other countries that had approved the use of the vaccine, the Telegraph reported. The vaccine was never approved for use in the United States.

Other countries have already stopped using the vaccine; it has not been available in Australia since March 2023.

Newsweek reached out to AstraZeneca for comment via email.

The withdrawal comes as the company faces a class-action lawsuit in the U.K. over allegations of side effects associated with the vaccine.

The company is contesting the claims, but admitted in a February legal document that its COVID vaccine "can, in very rare cases, cause TTS," according to the Telegraph.

TTS, or Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, is a rare side effect linked to certain COVID-19 vaccines, which can manifest in the form of blood clots and a low blood platelet count.

The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was the first to be rolled out in the U.K. in early 2021.

However, the government reduced its use of the vaccine after emerging reports about the rare risk of blood clots and replaced it with Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Sarah Moore, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, which is bringing the legal claims against AstraZeneca, said that the withdrawal will come as welcome news to those who have suffered side effects.

"It will be seen as a decision linked with AstraZeneca's recent admission that the vaccine can cause TTS, and the fact that regulators across the world suspended or stopped usage of the vaccine following concerns regarding TTS," she told the Telegraph.

"This is an important regulatory step, but still our clients remain without fair compensation," she said. "We will continue to fight for the compensation our clients need and campaign for reform of the vaccine damage payment scheme."

Professor Catherine Bennett, the chair of epidemiology at Deakin University in Australia, told The Guardian that it was important to note that the vaccine played a crucial role in the early days of the pandemic.

"It has saved millions of lives and that should not be forgotten," she said. "It was a really important part of the initial global response. However, it targeted the initial ancestral variants. We've now moved into a vaccine chain where we have products available that are chasing the variants that are emerging."