• Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca on Tuesday announced that it’s withdrawing its COVID vaccine globally, citing low demand and a “surplus of available updated vaccines.” Guardian (LR: 2 CP: 5)
• The decision comes months after the company admitted in court documents that the shot can cause a rare and dangerous side effect that leads to blood clots and low blood platelet counts. Human Events
• Facing lawsuits by more than 50 alleged victims, AstraZeneca admitted to the UK High Court in February that its COVID vaccine “can, in very rare cases, cause” Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome. The Telegraph
• AstraZeneca, which applied to voluntarily withdraw its “marketing authorisation” in the EU on March 5, argues that the timing of its latest decision was a coincidence, adding Vaxzevria is no longer being manufactured or supplied. The Telegraph
• More than 3B doses of Vaxzevria were supplied globally, though it wasn’t approved in the US. Australia began phasing the shot out in June 2021 due to the availability of newer vaccines, and it hasn’t been available in the country since March 2023. FOX News
• Developed with the University of Oxford, Vaxzervria was rolled out in January 2021 as one of the first COVID vaccines in the UK. According to AstraZeneca, the vaccine saved 6.5M lives in its first year of use. CNBC

Pro-establishment narrative:

• AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine was a successful breakthrough that saved millions of lives and allowed many countries to survive a global pandemic. The pharmaceutical company should be very proud of its product, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting that newer vaccines are better equipped to combat new COVID variants. As the COVID outbreak drifts deeper into the past, vaccine demand has slowed, meaning there’s less need for numerous vaccine manufacturers.
  CNN (LR: 2 CP: 5)

Establishment-critical narrative:

• After riding the wave of a Big Pharma response to the pandemic, the COVID vaccine bubble has finally burst economically and AstraZeneca is just one of many companies plunging off the “COVID cliff.” AstraZeneca’s public relations issues with vaccine side effects are secondary to the real reason it’s walking away from COVID response — this was always about riding the waves of the market. The firm cashed in on a windfall and now Big Pharma is moving on.
  FIERCE PHARMA

Nerd narrative:

• There’s a 50% chance the US FDA and CDC will recommend at least seven SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine doses for at least 15% of the US on Dec. 31, 2024, according to the Metaculus prediction community.
  METACULUS (LR: 3 CP: 3)