LONDON: Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca (AZ) has for the first time allegedly confirmed in a court document that its Covid-19 vaccine can lead to rare blood clotting side effect.
The admission, lawyers believe, could pave the way for a multi-million pound compensation, with 51 cases filed in the UK High Court with claims totaling almost £100 million (RM512 million).
UK media outlet The Telegraph reported that the pharmaceutical giant is now facing lawsuits over claims that the vaccine, which it had developed with Oxford University, could cause death or serious injury in scores of cases.
Lawyers, it said, had argued that the vaccines could have negative side effects on a small number of individuals.
The first case was filed last year by Jamie Scott, a father of two, who suffered permanent brain damage after experiencing a blood clot and bleeding in the brain which prevented him from working, after taking the vaccine on April 2021.
His condition was reportedly critical to the extent that the hospital had contacted his wife on three separate occasions to inform her that her husband would die.
AZ had challenged the claim. However, in legal documents filed in Feb, it made a number of admissions, including that its vaccine 'can, in very rare cases, cause TTS'.
TTS is short for thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome – a medical condition where a person suffers blood clots along with a low platelet count. Platelets typically help the blood to clot.
The complication – listed as a potential side effect of the jab – has previously been called vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT).
The Telegraph said in a letter of response sent in May 2023, AstraZeneca told Scott's lawyers that "we do not accept that TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level".
However, in a legal document submitted to the High Court in February, AstraZeneca was quoted as saying: "It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known.
"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."
Scientists had first identified a link between the vaccine and a new illness called vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT) in March 2021, shortly after the Covid-19 vaccine rollout began.
Lawyers for the claimants argue that VITT is a subset of TTS, although AstraZeneca does not appear to recognise the term.
The Telegraph quoted Scott's wife, Kate, as saying: "The medical world has acknowledged for a long time that VITT was caused by the vaccine. It's only AstraZeneca who have questioned whether Jamie's condition was caused by the jab.
"It's taken three years for this admission to come. It's progress, but we would like to see more from them and the Government. It's time for things to move more quickly.
"I hope their admission means we will be able to sort this out sooner rather than later. We need an apology, fair compensation for our family and other families who have been affected. We have the truth on our side, and we are not going to give up."
The report also quoted Sarah Moore, a partner at legal firm Leigh Day, which is filing the claim, was quoted as saying: "It has taken AstraZeneca a year to formally admit that their vaccine can cause the devastating blood clots, when this fact has been widely accepted by the clinical community since the end of 2021.
"In that context, regrettably it seems that AZ, the Government and their lawyers are more keen to play strategic games and run up legal fees than to engage seriously with the devastating impact that their AZ vaccine has had upon our clients' lives."
AstraZeneca was quoted as saying in a statement that: "Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority, and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.
"From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects."
AstraZeneca, according to the report, had noted that product information relating to the vaccine was updated in April 2021, with the approval of the UK regulator, to include "the possibility that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is capable, in very rare cases, of being a trigger for" TTS.
The report said AstraZeneca does not recognise claims it has performed an about-turn in acknowledging that the vaccine can cause TTS in court documents.
Independent studies show the AstraZeneca vaccine was incredibly effective in tackling the pandemic, saving more than six million lives globally in the first year of the rollout.
The World Health Organisation has said the vaccine was "safe and effective for all individuals aged 18 and above" and the adverse effect that has prompted the legal action was "very rare".
According to the report, AstraZeneca has previously argued in court papers that claims against the company are "confused" and "wrong in law".
In its defence filing, AstraZeneca said the benefit/risk profile of the vaccine was, and remains, positive.