AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine – once heralded as a ‘triumph for science’ – is being withdrawn worldwide.
The jab, developed with Oxford University, can no longer be used in the European Union after the company voluntarily pulled its ‘marketing authorisation’, coming into effect today.
Similar applications to withdraw the vaccine will be made in other countries which had previously approved it, including the UK. Around 50million doses were given in Britain.
While credited with saving more than 6million lives, the jab — known as Vaxzevria — has come under intense scrutiny in recent months over a rare but fatal side effect.
In February, the pharmaceutical titan admitted in documents lodged with the High Court that it ‘can, in very rare cases, cause thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)’.
So why has the jab now been withdrawn? Are you at risk if you had Vaxzevria? And what do you have to prove if you have been injured by the AstraZeneca vaccine?
Here, MailOnline explains everything you need to know.
The graph shows the cumulative number of Covid jabs dished out in the UK since the pandemic began, the percentage of each age group which has had a jab (bottom left) and the number of each Covid vaccine brand dished out
Why has it been withdrawn?
Fifty-one families are currently pursuing legal action against AstraZeneca, arguing its ‘defective’ jab was to blame for their injuries and deaths of loved ones.
However, the Cambridge-based drug manufacturer denies the decision to withdraw the vaccine is related to the court case. Instead, it insists Vaxzevria is being removed from markets for commercial reasons.
The company said in court documents that the vaccine is reportedly no longer being manufactured or supplied, having been superseded by updated vaccines that tackle newer variants.
In a statement today, the company said: ‘According to independent estimates, over 6.5million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally.
‘Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.
‘As multiple, variant Covid 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.
‘AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate withdrawal of the marketing authorisations for Vaxzevria within Europe.’
What did the original trial data show about side effects?
Tens of thousands of volunteers, including ones in the UK and the US, willingly rolled up their sleeves to take part in original trials.
Heavily scrutinised data suggested two doses of the AstraZeneca jab offered about 70 per cent protection against becoming ill. This meant developing any symptoms, as opposed to being hospitalised.
Other studies calculated that a single dose reduced the likelihood of hospitalisation by up to 94 per cent.
Analysis of the phase 3 trial, the final hurdle typically needed to be cleared before any drug gets approved for widespread human use, noted no safety concerns.
Yet, like with all forms of medication, AstraZeneca’s jab carried a range of potential side effects.
Officials knew about mild ones thanks to the massive trials, with recipients mostly complaining of routine issues like headaches.
And people who were subsequently vaccinated were warned about them ahead of getting any needle in their arm.
Common side effects, which health bosses say can affect more than 10 per cent of recipients, include fatigue, ‘flu-like’ symptoms, and pain in the arms or legs.
Stomach pain, a rash and excessive sweating were uncommon, strikes roughly one in 100 people who get vaccinated.
According to the pharmaceutical titan, rare (approximately one in 1,000) issues included facial drooping on one side.
It was only once the door was opened for millions more Brits to get the jab, as the UK did during the first few months of 2021, that another complication was spotted.
Officials noted a small, yet significant trend in cases of vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT, or TTS) that allowed them to raise the alarm in the first week of April.
It causes blood clots to form in various parts of the body, including the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, and the legs. It is an urgent medical emergency.
These blood clots, like any others, can be deadly depending on where they form or if they break up and travel to parts of the body like the brain.
Estimates suggest the risk of blood clots occurring from taking AstraZeneca’s jab is in the region of one in 50,000.
Am I at risk now if I had the jab back in 2021?
Side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine generally only occurred within the first four weeks of receiving it.
There is currently no evidence of a long-term risk from having had the jab, doctors insist.
As jabs are given as a single dose at a time, experts claim adverse effects generally only occur a short time after receiving the injection — unlike with medication that people take for years.
Additionally, given the sheer quantity of people who received the AstraZeneca jab, some 50million in the UK and over 2.5billion globally, long-term effects would likely have been spotted by now, experts say.
How do you prove you have been injured by Vaxzevria?
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, which has been around since the 70s, offers people, or their families, a tax-free sum of £120,000.
Established back in 1979, the policy covers covers an array of vaccines recommended by the Government, including measles, mumps and rubella and is meant to reassure people that, in the unlikely event something goes wrong, the state will provide support.
Under current rules however, strict eligibility criteria means those affected must either have been killed or be left 60 per cent disabled due to a vaccine.
This means a person theoretically judged to be only 59 per cent disabled will not get a penny.
The extent of a person’s disability is based on an assessment by a doctor and can include both physical disablement, such as the loss of a limb, or mental disablement, such as a decline cognitive function.
It also means there is no escalation of the sum received.
So, for example, someone who is completely paralysed by a vaccine would receive the same £120,000 as someone who lost a leg.
Going blind or deaf counts as being 100 per cent disabled.
Brits can only make a claim for a child once they are two years old. Adults must apply within six years of having a vaccine.
Researchers believe the rare side effect occurs due to the modified cold virus lurking in the jab having an adverse effect on platelets in the blood, triggering clotting
The AstraZeneca vaccine is a genetically engineered common cold virus that used to infect chimpanzees. It has been modified to make it weak so it does not cause illness in people and loaded up with the gene for the coronavirus spike protein, which Covid-19 uses to invade human cells
What is the three year cut-off for compensation claims?
Government officials caution it can take at least six months to process a Vaccine Damage Payment claim. Covid vaccine specific claims ‘will take longer’.
Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, Brits also have a right to sue vaccine producers if a jab defect has caused personal injury.
Lawyers representing 51 victims and families are currently undertaking such action against AstraZeneca, arguing the vaccine was ‘a defective product’ that was ‘not as safe as consumers generally were reasonably entitled to expect’.
The pharmaceutical titan has strongly denied these claims.
Those injured or bereaved, however only have three years from the date of their injury or death in which to bring a claim.
Last month, Sarah Moore, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, who is representing alleged victims, told MailOnline the true toll of people injured may never be uncovered.
‘The criteria for what constituted VITT was really only published and made available to the clinical community from the beginning of March (2021),’ she said.
‘We may never know if there were other injuries that could have been related to the vaccine before March 2021.
‘For the claims we are bringing, those injured or bereaved have three years from the date of their injury or the death in which to bring a claim so unfortunately in many cases that cut off has now been reached.’
How many Brits have been injured by the jab?
TTS is thought to be linked to at least 81 deaths in the UK, according to figures collated by UK drug watchdog, the MHRA.
Not all are proven, however. And not every family is seeking legal action.
No figures are provided for the number of people left disabled from AstraZeneca’s Covid jab.
According to figures released by NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) under freedom of information laws, the payment scheme has received more than 11,000 Covid vaccine claims as of April 2.
Of these, 168 claims for state-funded financial support have now been approved.
Fewer than five were Pfizer and Moderna, with the remaining claims all AstraZeneca.
The successful claims cover those affected by VITT.
Others developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, anaphylaxis or suffered other blood clots.
More than 4,800 claims have been rejected, including 324 who were unsuccessful because they failed to meet the 60 per cent threshold.
‘Although the claims met the criteria for causation, the independent medical assessor recommended that the vaccine has not caused severe disablement,’ the NHSBSA said.
When were officials first aware of the risk?
Health officials first identified cases of VITT linked to AstraZeneca’s jab in Europe as early as March 2021, just over two months after the vaccine was first deployed in the UK.
However, it wasn’t until April that year that evidence became clear enough that the jab started to be restricted.
Spooked officials first restricted the jab to only people over 30. They then narrowed this to only over-40s in May 2021.
As the vaccine still worked against Covid, it was still deemed worth giving to older Brits who were at greater risk of death or injury from falling ill with the virus.
Further Covid vaccine rollouts have either minimised use of the AstraZeneca jab and/or phased it out entirely in favour of mRNA alternatives like those made by rival pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna.
One of those seeking compensation for injuries linked to the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is father-of-two and IT engineer Jamie Scott (right), His wife Kate (left) said she hoped the new AstraZeneca submission was sign the legal case could be resolved soon
The pharmaceutical titan is the second largest publicly listed company in the UK, with a market capitalisation of more than £170 billion. Its chief executive, Sir Pascal Soriot (pictured), is the highest-paid boss among FTSE 100 companies, with earnings close to £19 million
Who is taking legal action against AstraZeneca?
Fifty-one families are currently pursuing legal action against the pharmaceutical titan, arguing its ‘defective’ jab was to blame for their injuries and deaths of loved ones.
One of those seeking compensation is for injuries linked to AstraZeneca’s vaccine is father-of-two and IT engineer Jamie Scott.
He was left with a permanent brain injury following a blood clot and the bleed on the brain after getting the vaccine in April 2021. The 47-year-old has been unable to work since.
Some of these people have already received a payment from Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.
Others are in the process of applying for a payment. Some have been told they are ineligible.
Should the action prove successful, compensation could reach seven-figure sums.
AstraZeneca, however, will not foot the bill.
Under a legal indemnity that the Government gave the company early in the pandemic — given the need to roll out the vaccine fast — the UK taxpayer will have to pay any compensation awarded.
The pharmaceutical titan is the second largest publicly listed company in the UK, with a market capitalisation of more than £170 billion.
Its chief executive, Sir Pascal Soriot, is the highest-paid boss among FTSE 100 companies, with earnings close to £19 million.
