AstraZeneca has begun withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine from global markets due to low demand, the pharmaceutical giant said. The decision closes the chapter on a vaccine that was widely used in the early stages of vaccination campaigns in many parts of the world before being supplanted by rivals that were better prepared to confront an evolving virus.
The move was not related to any concerns about the shot’s side effects, the company said.
Since the vaccine was approved in Britain in December 2020, more than three billion doses have been delivered worldwide. But in recent years, demand has plummeted as other manufacturers rolled out vaccines tailored to newer variants and countries opted to use them. The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, is no longer manufactured or supplied.
The company said it had decided to voluntarily withdraw all licenses to market its Covid vaccine. That process began months ago and very few active licenses remain, the company said. Britain’s Telegraph first reported the decision on Tuesday.
In March, AstraZeneca requested that the vaccine be withdrawn from most European countries. The European Commission approved the measure, which came into force this week.
Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist at the University of Manchester, said the company’s decision to withdraw the vaccine was “not a surprise.” Unlike other manufacturers, AstraZeneca did not update its vaccine to attack emerging variants of the virus because it used a vaccine technology, known as a viral vector, that was less susceptible to such changes.
“It was just recognized that it wasn’t going to be a vaccine that could continue to evolve for what we need now, and that it wasn’t really useful now because the SARS-CoV-2 virus has changed so much.” said Mrs. Cruickshank.
In clinical trials, the AstraZeneca shot didn’t work as well at preventing Covid as the Pfizer and Moderna shots did in their own studies, but the AstraZeneca shot still proved very effective at preventing serious illness and death from the virus. .
Concerns about a link between the AstraZeneca shot and an extremely rare but serious blood clotting disorder contributed to lower demand for the vaccine. Their product information was updated in April 2021 to include risks regarding possible side effects. AstraZeneca’s vaccine was cheaper and easier to transport and store than its competitors. It became the predominant vaccine used in developing countries for much of 2021, when the Pfizer and Moderna shots were primarily aimed at rich countries.
Kim Blomley, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca, said the company was “incredibly proud” of the vaccine’s role in ending the coronavirus pandemic.
The vaccine has been distributed in more than 170 countries, with most doses administered in 2021. It has never been administered in the United States outside of clinical trials.