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British pharma giant AstraZeneca finally admitted that its Covid vaccine, Covishield, can cause rare side effects, paving the way for a multi-million-pound legal payout.

 

The AstraZeneca Covishield was administered to millions of people around the world, specifically in India. 

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off India’s mass Covid-19 vaccination drive with two vaccines - Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s homegrown vaccine Covaxin - which were approved by the country's drugs regulator earlier in January 2021.

 

Covishield, a COVID-19 vaccine, was jointly developed by the University of Oxford and the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The Serum Institute of India (SII), located in Pune and considered to be the world's largest vaccine manufacturer in terms of quantity, collaborated with Oxford University to produce the Covishield vaccine in India. At its assembly lines, the SII was able to generate 5,000 doses of the vaccine per minute.

 

Despite multiple allegations surfacing since then against the vaccine's safety levels, including from top medical researchers and doctors, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time in court documents that its Covid-19 vaccine, sold globally under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria, among others, may lead to a rare, deadly side effect: thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).

 

What is Thrombosis?

 

According to the Cleveland Clinic, thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) inside one of your blood vessels or a chamber of your heart.

 

Clots can block blood flow in your blood vessels or break free and travel elsewhere in your body. If a clot gets stuck in a critical location like your lungs or brain, it can disrupt blood flow to that organ and result in a life-threatening emergency.

 

 

 

Symptoms vary based on the clot’s location, including chest pain, trouble breathing, and skin changes.

 

Some people are at a higher risk of thrombosis than others due to medical conditions and other underlying factors.

 

Thrombosis can lead to many different complications depending on where the blood clot forms or travels to:

• Lungs: Pulmonary embolism.
• Brain: Transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke.
• Heart (coronary artery): Heart attack.
• Neck (carotid artery): TIA or stroke.
• Belly (superior mesenteric artery or one of its branches): Mesenteric ischemia.

Thrombosis can happen in either an artery or a vein, and it is highly dangerous because it can obstruct blood flow where it forms and also cause a blockage elsewhere by breaking free from its origin, travelling in blood, and getting stuck in a smaller blood vessel.

 

Thrombosis is a very common condition and is responsible for one in four deaths worldwide. This is because thrombosis can lead to life-threatening conditions like a heart attack, stroke, or pulmonary embolism.

 

How is thrombosis diagnosed?

 

Diagnosing thrombosis is not difficult. Healthcare providers diagnose thrombosis based on a physical exam, imaging tests such as CT scans, MRI, ultrasound and X-rays of blood vessels and blood tests.

 

How is thrombosis treated?

 

Thrombosis can be treated using medications, minimally invasive procedures, and surgeries. Blood thinners are used to prevent blood clotting too easily, but they cannot dissolve existing clots. However, they can prevent the clot from growing. 

 

Thrombolytic therapy involves using medications to dissolve blood clots. These "clot-busting drugs" are particularly useful for critical clots in areas such as the heart and brain. They are used as emergency treatment for heart attacks, strokes, and other complications related to thrombosis.

 

Thrombectomy is one of the most direct ways to remove a blood clot in which a surgeon accesses the clots and removes them surgically.