AstraZeneca Takes COVID Vaccine Off The Market After Side Effects Admission

The discussion on the safety and efficacy of COVID vaccines appears to be dramatically shifting.

Just recently, The New York Times of all places covered how those who believe they've been injured by vaccine-caused side effects should receive awareness and compensation. Even more surprisingly, the same writer who described discussions around a potential lab leak as having "racist roots" is now apparently willing to listen to those who have differing opinions.

READ: Now The Truth Is Finally (Kind Of) Being Told By Mainstream Media About COVID Vaccine Side Effects

But beyond media attention, the most drastic example of the changing narrative around COVID vaccines comes from one of the major pharmaceutical companies themselves: AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine Vaxzevria was mainly distributed in Europe, and immediately raised concerns over some serious side effects. Most notably were blood clots that developed in a relatively small number of people who'd taken their vaccine.

At the time though, in early 2021, regulators and the media went on a full court press campaign to defend the AstraZeneca vaccine. 

In Canada, for example, the Ottawa Public Health department posted on Twitter (now X) that "The AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective at reducing the risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19. The best COVID vaccine to get is the one you are eligible to get first."

Even into 2023, the company would not admit that their vaccine caused clotting, saying in a response to a vaccine injury lawsuit they do "not accept that [clotting] is caused by the vaccine at a generic level."

Well, suddenly that's changed.

A dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

AstraZeneca Now Admits COVID Vaccine Can Cause Harmful Side Effects

In new court documents reported on by The Telegraph, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time this year that their vaccine can directly cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), a health issue that causes people to have blood clots and a low blood platelet count.

In a legal document submitted in February to the UK's High Court, they admitted that it can cause TTS. Perhaps even more concerning is that they also acknowledged they don't know why.

"It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS," the document reads. "The causal mechanism is not known."

Sarah Moore, a partner at the law firm representing one of those suffering from this side effect, issued a statement in response to AstraZeneca admitting the causal relationship.

"It has taken AstraZeneca a year to formally admit that their vaccine can cause the devastating blood clots, when this fact has been widely accepted by the clinical community since the end of 2021.

"In that context, regrettably it seems that AZ, the Government and their lawyers are more keen to play strategic games and run up legal fees than to engage seriously with the devastating impact that their AZ vaccine has had upon our clients’ lives."

For their part, the company claims that the benefits of their vaccine outweigh the risks.

"From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects," their statement reads.

So why are they pulling it off the market?

AstraZeneca Submits Request To Remove Vaccine Authorization 

On Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency posted an update on their website that authorization for the AstraZeneca vaccine had been withdrawn "at the request of the marketing authorization holder."

The company has cited low demand, but the timing understandably raises questions about their motivations. With news reaching the public that the pharma giant has acknowledged a direct relationship between their vaccine and a serious, debilitating side effect, there may be an added motivation to avoid any further potential claims. However rare they may be.

While the TTS side effect may indeed be limited, the initial roll out and usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine by global governments was an inexcusable mistake. While AZ maintains that regulators have stated that the benefits outweigh the risks, that's an overly simplistic statement that purposefully distracts from the real debate at hand. 

The European Union safety regulator initially concluded that the AZ jab didn't raise the overall risk of clots; a risk that even AZ now admits exists. Clearly, regulators are not entirely infallible. There could be an argument made that for the elderly or severely immunocompromised, the benefits do outweigh the risks. But the initial roll out of the AZ vaccine was limited to younger individuals at first because there was insufficient data on how beneficial it might be in older recipients.

And for younger people, the risks of COVID vaccines may outweigh the benefits. Especially among healthy young people and when considering the benefits of natural immunity. All too often though, pharmaceutical companies, media outlets, and the public health community dismissed concerns of side effects in favor of one-size-fits-all "safe and effective" messaging. 

Exactly like the Ottawa Public Health post from 2021. 

Will they go back and revisit those statements and revise their communication strategy now that even the manufacturer admits a causal link? Of course not. Just like with every other COVID issue that institutions, corporations and administrators got wrong during the pandemic, they'll safely ignore it or downplay their role in creating a false consensus.

READ: New Report Confirms Fauci, Other 'Experts' Misled Public About COVID Research

That's what The Science™ means in practice; squashing debate, legitimate concerns and differing opinions. Only to tacitly admit the truth when it's far too late to matter.