LONDON (AP) — The pharma giant AstraZeneca has requested that the European authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine be pulled, according to the EU medicines regulator.
In an update on the European Medicines Agency’s website Wednesday, the regulator said that the approval for AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria had been withdrawn “at the request of the marketing authorization holder.” AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine was first given the nod by the EMA in January 2021.
The EU regulator concluded AstraZeneca’s shot didn’t raise the overall risk of clots, but doubts remained.
Insufficient data about how well the vaccine protected older people led some countries to initially restrict its use to younger populations before reversing course.
Billions of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were distributed to poorer countries through a U.N.-coordinated program, as it was cheaper and easier to produce and distribute.
The U.K.’s national coronavirus immunization program in 2021 heavily relied on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which was largely developed by scientists at Oxford University with significant financial government support.
But even Britain later resorted to buying the mRNA vaccines for its COVID booster vaccination programs and the AstraZeneca vaccine is now rarely used globally.
___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group.
LONDON (AP) — According to the EU medicines regulator, the pharmaceutical behemoth AstraZeneca has asked for the withdrawal of the European authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine.
The European Medicines Agency announced on its website on Wednesday that it had revoked the approval for Vaxzevria, a medication manufactured by AstraZeneca, “at the request of the marketing authorization holder.”. “.
The COVID-19 vaccination from AstraZeneca was initially approved by the EMA in January 2021. Shortly after the vaccination’s introduction, dozens of nations decided to halt its distribution due to safety concerns, which surfaced when a small number of recipients of the shot developed strange but uncommon blood clots. AstraZeneca’s shot didn’t increase the overall risk of clots, according to the EU regulator, but questions remained.
A manufacturing error that researchers failed to disclose right away tainted some of the results of the vaccine’s first large trial, which Britain used to approve it. Some countries initially limited the vaccination’s use to younger populations before changing their minds due to insufficient data regarding the vaccine’s effectiveness in protecting older adults.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was given to developing nations in billions of doses via a U.S. Not N. program, since it was less expensive and simpler to create and disseminate. However, subsequent research revealed that the more expensive messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech offered superior defense against COVID-19 and its numerous variations, leading most nations to adopt those shots.
The USA. G. ‘s nationwide coronavirus vaccination campaign in 2021 was primarily dependent on AstraZeneca’s vaccine, which was primarily created by Oxford University researchers with substantial financial assistance from the government. However, the AstraZeneca vaccine is now hardly ever used worldwide after even Britain eventually had to purchase the mRNA vaccines for its COVID booster vaccination programs.
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