AstraZeneca admits ‘very rare' side effect of COVID vaccine in UK court

London: UK-headquartered pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZ) has admitted that in "very rare cases" its COVID vaccine can cause a blood clot related side effect but the causal link is unknown, according to court papers being quoted in the UK media.

‘The Daily Telegraph' reports that in a legal document submitted to the High Court in London in February for a group action being brought by 51 claimants, AZ admitted that the vaccine developed with the University of Oxford to protect against COVID-19 may cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) in “very rare cases”.

The AZ Vaxzevria vaccine, also manufactured by Serum Institute of India, was known in India as Covishield.

“It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. Further, TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in any individual case will be a matter for expert evidence,” the newspaper quotes the legal document as stating.

Lawyers acting on behalf of the claimants say they, or their loved ones, who received the AZ vaccine suffered TTS – a rare syndrome characterised by the concurrence of thrombosis. (PTI)