AstraZeneca says it will withdraw COVID-19 vaccine globally as demand dips

A health worker administers a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to a man in Bangkok on Feb. 23, 2022. (Sakchai Lalit / AP Photo)

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a "surplus of available updated vaccines" since the pandemic.

The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria's marketing authorizations within Europe.

"As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines," the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.

According to media reports, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker has previously admitted in court documents that the vaccine causes side-effects such as blood clots and low blood platelet counts.

The firm's application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on May 7, according to the Telegraph, which first reported the development.

London-listed AstraZeneca began moving into respiratory syncytial virus vaccines and obesity drugs through several deals last year after a slowdown in growth as COVID-19 medicine sales declined.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar, Maria Ponnezhath and Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)