Benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine far outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects, pharma giant AstraZeneca said on Tuesday.
The company's response,
in a statement to IANS, comes amidst furore over the company admitting in UK
court documents that its vaccine against Covid-19, developed in partnership
with Oxford University, can raise the risk of a rare and serious blood clot.
"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," the
statement said.
"Regulators around
the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the
risks of extremely rare potential side effects," it added.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca
Covid vaccine, sold as Covishield in India and Vaxzevria in Europe is a viral
vector vaccine developed using the modified chimpanzee adenovirus ChAdOx1.
In a legal document
submitted to the UK High Court, in February, "AstraZeneca accepted that
its Covid vaccine 'can, in very rare cases, cause TTS'", the Telegraph
reported.
Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia
Syndrome (TTS) is a disorder that causes people to have blood clots and a low
blood platelet count.
A total of 51 cases have
been lodged in the UK High Court against the pharmaceutical giant over claims
that its Covid vaccine caused death and serious injury. The victims and
grieving relatives have sought damages, estimated to be worth up to 100 million
pounds, the report said.
The company also
expressed sympathy with the people who suffered loss of lives or health due to
its vaccine, and asserted that "patient safety is our highest
priority".
"Our sympathy goes
out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems," AstraZeneca
said.
"Patient safety is
our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent
standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines,"
the company added.
Meanwhile, health
experts noted that AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine having side effects is nothing
new in terms of information, and nothing new that should make us fearful.
"The furore about
Covishield is quite surprising. Nothing new in terms of information and more
importantly nothing in that information that should make us fearful of
vaccines," Dr. Anurag Agrawal, a pulmonologist and Dean, BioSciences and
Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, shared in a
post on X.com.
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