AstraZeneca has initiated a withdrawal of its Covid-19 vaccine against the backdrop of surplus stocks and a decline in demand that also prompted an Indian vaccine maker to stop the production of its Indian version — Covishield — in December 2021.

The European Medical Agency on Tuesday issued a notification that the vaccine is “no longer authorised” from May 7, in response to an application submitted by the British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca in March 2024.

The company said it was withdrawing the vaccine as there was a surplus of available updated vaccines since the pandemic, a Reuters news agency report said on Wednesday.
“As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines,” Reuters said, quoting the company that added that this had led to a decline in demand for the vaccine.

The company’s decision to withdraw the vaccine comes at a time when the vaccine is under scrutiny after AstraZeneca purportedly told a UK court that some of the vaccine recipients had developed low platelet counts and blood clots — a rare side effect.

The Serum Institute of India in Pune had stopped the production and supply of the vaccine since December 2021.

“With India achieving high vaccination rates in 2021 and 2022, coupled with the emergence of new mutant variant strains, the demand for previous vaccines diminished significantly,” a Serum spokesperson told The Telegraph. “Consequently, since December 2021, we have stopped manufacturing and supplying additional doses of Covishield.”