In May, the pharma giant AstraZeneca pulled its COVID-19 vaccine from the market worldwide. Since the news broke, many social media posts have circulated claims about why the vaccine was pulled, including claims that it harmed people. This is misleading. While the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was found to have a rare side-effect that caused blood clots, the company said it’s pulling the vaccine for commercial reasons. Health authorities say this side-effect was very rare.
One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote in a that the vaccine was pulled “due to side effects.” Another X user that the vaccine was pulled “amid serious health concerns.” One user the vaccine is “not safe and effective” after all, while another the vaccine was pulled “after it was revealed it HURT the same people forced to have it.”
Rating: Misleading
While the AstraZeneca vaccine did have a rare side-effect that sparked concern during the pandemic, the company its decision to pull the vaccine was a commercial one. AstraZeneca withdrew its Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine globally, citing a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic, .
Reuters also cited “media reports” that the company previously admitted in court documents the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.
A noted that most countries actually stopped using the AstraZeneca shot in 2021. Early that year, after the vaccine was approved by multiple health agencies, dozens of countries suspended use of the vaccine after “unusual but rare” blood clots were detected in a small number of people who received the shot.
In March 2021, Canada’s ɫֱ Advisory Committee on Immunization that people under 55 not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine as a “precautionary measure.”
According to the , the AstraZeneca vaccine “played an important role in the UK's life-saving vaccine programme during the early stages of the pandemic.” However, evidence has shown that mRNA vaccines, such as those from Pfizer and Moderna, are more effective at protecting against COVID-19, the organization said: “These vaccines have also been updated to tackle more recent Covid-19 variants, and these are the vaccines now used in the UK's seasonal booster programmes.”
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is a “viral vector vaccine,” according to the .
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada’s , events of blood clots associated with low levels of platelets after immunization are “very rare.”
The Australian government’s also called the syndrome, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia (TTS), rare, saying it occurred in around two to three people per 100,000 under 60 years of age who received the vaccine in Australia.
The British Heart Foundation said most side-effects reported for the AstraZeneca vaccine are mild and short-term. The blood clot and platelet effects are “a very rare side effect,” it said, adding that in April 2021 the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said the benefits of the vaccine outweighed those risks for the vast majority of people.
According to the as of Dec. 3, 2023, more than 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Canada. Among these doses, there have been nearly 59,000 adverse events reported, with nearly 12,000 of them considered “serious.” The serious adverse events represent 0.0011 per cent of all doses administered.
The government says the drug identification numbers of the Janssen and AstraZeneca vaccines were cancelled by Health Canada in 2023, both at the request of their manufacturers.
The government of TTS up to and including Jan. 5, 2024, after COVID-19 vaccination, 56 of them after the AstraZeneca vaccine.
As well, COVID-19 itself can cause abnormal blood clots, according to the in the United States: “This unusual clotting may cause different complications, including organ damage, heart attack and stroke.”
Sources
The claims can be found on X (), (),() and ()
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