AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine removal may not be all sunshine
This may signal no incentive to look into these adverse events.
By now you’ve likely heard that pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, maker of the adenoviral-based COVID vaccines predominately available within European countries, has halted marketing of these vaccines appearing to cite “low demand”.
At least, this is the proposed reason as reported by CNN:
But the vaccine has not generated revenue for AstraZeneca since April 2023, the company said.
“As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have … been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied,” it said in a statement shared with CNN Wednesday.
“AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate withdrawal of the marketing authorizations for Vaxzevria within Europe,” it added.
Several outlets have cited this reason as well, although their text doesn’t point to any definitive claim that the vaccines being removed due to low demand.
It’s also timely that this would occur after class action lawsuits have been brought forth regarding alleged harms caused by AstraZeneca’s vaccines, with AstraZeneca admitting that thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) is very rare but possible with their vaccines.
This admittance doesn’t quite amount to much given that there has been robust evidence noting an apparent signal of TTS in those who are provided adenoviral-based vaccines. So although a formality it reiterates something that has been well-known by many, and is also one of the reasons for early criticisms of these vaccines.
Nonetheless, this removal of AstraZeneca’s vaccine may seem like a move in the right direction. However, I hesitate to make such a statement due to one concern that I have raised with the removal of J&J’s EUA, and that is that the removal of these vaccines may remove any incentive to research adverse events related to these vaccines.
No more manufacturing means no more vials of vaccines for researchers to examine or experiment with to examine for adverse events. This is something that was a concern a while back when many vials of mRNA vaccines were being destroyed due to low demand instead of being provided to researchers:
COVID vaccine manufacturers won't share information about their vaccines
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Again, what this means is that unavailability of these vaccines works both for the public while against research endeavors. It doesn’t help that research into adverse events related to the adenoviral vaccines was already behind relative to the mRNA vaccines, likely due to the lower number of people receiving these vaccines as well as J&J’s EUA removal. Bear in mind that the controversies surrounding these vaccines likely influenced their reduced uptake anyways in favor of the mRNA platform.
This is partially reflected in the recent document released from the National Academies Press where it was noted that the removal of J&J’s EUA and the limited availability is reflected in the limited studies available regarding this vaccine in particular:
As of now there is still no clear mechanistic explanation as to why TTS is occurring in some vaccinees. The predominate hypothesis available suggests that complex formation between the adenovirus and and platelet factor 4 may expose immunogenic regions in the complex which can cause an immune response, with clot formation being the end result of this immune response:
Adenoviral Vector Redux
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Unfortunately, this hypothesis is the prevailing hypothesis not because the evidence available is robust, but because it is one of the only hypotheses that has been researched. And even then there hasn’t been much headway in validating this Adenoviral/PF4 complex formation.
So as it stands there really isn’t much information explaining how TTS or even Guillain-Barre may be caused by these vaccines.
And with such a gap in information the removal of these vaccines may work to hamper any research even further.
We’ll have to see if this proves to be true, but it doesn’t help that there is limited research regardless.
Anyways, just a hesitant word of caution.
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Adenovirus is a bad design for vaccines that need repeated shots aka boosters. This is because the body develops resistance to the virus after an exposure. The vaccines designed by AZ afaik were built so that the vector would be changed while reusing the shell. That’s why there have been no boosters from them. The booster would’ve been destroyed by the body before it reached its target. AZ was a one trick pony right out of the gate. That may be why their business dried up.
As for Guillain-Barre, this happens with a lot of vaccines given to kids. I was surprised when a pediatrician casually mentioned that is par for the course.
Conspicuous Theory: Its just a diversion and set-up to funnel everything to mRNA - Astra Z bad. JJ bad. adenovirus vaxx bad. Convince everyone that mRNA is basically Good, sure a few random issues (sorry a few died but hey, it would have happened eventually) but just tweak it a bit and we can even cure cancer. Just Say No (thanks, Nancy Reagan!)