Bangalore: One of the world’s most popular Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, made by AstraZeneca and ABLE member, Serum Institute of India, has bid good bye to the world after three years of existence.

On May 8, AstraZeneca, which produced the vaccine in collaboration with University of Oxford in the UK, announced that due to commercial reasons, mainly lack of demand worldwide, the vaccine is being withdrawn. The production of it has stopped globally.

In November 2020, when it was first introduced to tackle the raging Covid pandemic it was described as the “vaccine for the world” due to low cost, ease of storage and availability around the world due to large scale manufacturing.

AstraZeneca said it was withdrawing the vaccine due to the emergence of more effective vaccines and lack of demand for it as booster shots. The vaccine was initially developed to handle the Ebola virus spread in Africa and was later repurposed when found to be effective against virus causing Covid-19 in early 2020 when the pandemic shut down most of the world.

In the short three years of existence, more than 3 billion doses of the vaccine has been made and supplied to over 175 countries. Serum Institute made 2 billion of these doses at its Pune facility. In India, it was marketed as Covishield whereas in Europe it was supplied under the brand name, Vaxzevria.

Experts estimate that the vaccine has saved over a million lives, prevented at least 5 million hospitalizations and prevented more than 50 million Covid infections among the 1.75  billion people who received mostly two doses each. And few million got booster shots too.

Serum Institute has stopped production of the vaccine in December 2021 itself as the country reached peak vaccination levels.

Recently there have been reports of court cases related to the occurrence of blood clotting and deaths in few hundred patients during the height vaccination. Several court cases for compensation from the manufacturers have been filed. 

"The truth is it made an enormous difference, it was what lifted us out of the catastrophe that was unfolding at the time, combined with the other vaccine from Pfizer," said Prof Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol.

 “We fully understand the ongoing concerns and it is crucial to emphasize our commitment to transparency and safety. From the outset, we have disclosed all rare to very rare side effects, including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, in the packaging insert in 2021,”  a spokesperson for Serum Institute said.
 
“Despite the challenges faced during the global pandemic, the safety of the vaccine remains paramount. Regardless of whether it's AstraZeneca's Vaxzervria or our own Covishield, both vaccines have been instrumental in saving millions of lives worldwide. We commend the collaborative efforts of governments and ministries in facilitating a unified global response to the pandemic,” the spokesperson added.

On May 8, AstraZeneca, which produced the vaccine in collaboration with University of Oxford in the UK, announced that due to commercial reasons, mainly lack of demand worldwide, the vaccine is being withdrawn.