Recently, the UK-based pharmacy company AstraZeneca has confirmed and stated that its COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covishield’ can create a very rare disease known as Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS).
The admission came after the British company faced a lot of lawsuits and criticisms from the public for causing serious injury and in many cases death by the vaccine.
The Case Against the AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca who participated with Oxford University to develop the vaccine is currently facing a lot of backlash from the public, the victims and their families. One such incident was recently recorded in the case of Jamie Scott, a father of two children who took legal action against the company after he suffered with blood clot which made him unable to work.
Jamie Scott suffered from a blood clot and brain injury right after his vaccination in 2021 which made him unable to work.
Kate, the wife of Jamie Scott stated that ‘The medical world has acknowledged for a long time that vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) was caused by the vaccine.’ However, AstraZeneca denied and stated to the lawyers of Jamie Scott that they do not recongnise the disease being caused by a vaccine on an overall basis.
The company officials of AstraZeneca submitted an official document to the UK High Court which stated that ‘It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known.’
While Kate ordered an apology from the company officials and a fair reparation for their and other families who were also affected by the rare disease and also highlighted the fact that it took them three years to accept the admission.
What is TTS?
Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome(TTS) is an extremenly rare disease marked by the production of blood clots(thrombosis) and low platlets counts(thrombocytopenia), it is also known as the vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia(VITT).
Thrombosis takes place when a blood clot forms in a blood vesel by preventing blood flow and thrombocytopenia occurs when low level of platelts present in the blood since platelets play a crucial role in clotting by preventing excessive bleeding.
The symtoms of TTS includes shortness of breath, continuous headaches, blurry vision, pain in the chest, swelling of the leg and chronic stomach pain.
Will it Affect the Covishield Users in India?
The Government Council on Adverse Events Following Immunisation(AEFI) evaluated at least 36 cases of TTS(Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) and verified that 18 deaths occurred in the year 2021 from this rare disease, which also happened to be the first year for the release of Covid-19 vaccines.
The vaccine ‘Covishield’ was sold according to its original name in India and it was manufactured at the Serum Institute of India(SII) which is based in Pune. So, the Indian patients also showing signs or suffering from TTS can also join the British lawsuit since it is manufactured by an Indian company and it is also subject to Indian law and regulations.
But some Indian High officials promised the public that there is no need to panic as it is first reported from the European countries in the pandemic era and the disease is also very rare in India.
A senior official of the Indian Health Ministry stated that ‘TTS is a very rare side effect, rarer still in Indians and South Asians as compared to Europeans. But there is enough evidence to show that vaccination saved lives — the benefits outweighed the risks.’
Total Reported Cases of TTS
According to a 2022 report published by the Lancet Global Health, the company AstraZeneca has found out and reported that there are 8.1 million TTS cases from the first dose and 2.3 million TTS cases from the second dose of their vaccine ‘Covishield’.
The report also showed and compared the geographic variations of TTS cases, with the most cases being reported from Scandinavian countries where they received 17.6 million doses, and the least cases coming from Asian countries where they received 0.2 million doses.
