Was it rushed out? How many died from it in the UK? And could you still suffer from side-effects?

The AstraZeneca jab is said to have saved more than 6.5 million lives globally in the first year of use alone.

But yesterday, the manufacturer revealed it’s pulling the plug on its game-changing Covid-19 vaccine, after 50million doses were given in the UK.

Unveiled in January 2021, ten months after the World health Organisation declared Covid-19 a global emergency, the jab was the first in a series of vaccinations to offer a glimmer of hope that we might be able to tackle the virus.

It was hailed as one of the great scientific achievements of the modern era, slashing the time it normally takes to get a new vaccine on the market from almost a decade to just months.

And in February 2022, Professor Sarah Gilbert, a vaccine specialist at Oxford University and one of the pioneers behind the AstraZeneca (AZ) jab, was made a Dame in recognition of this work.

But the vaccine remains controversial.

The manufacturer is being sued by more than 50 alleged victims and grieving relatives in a multimillion-pound high Court action.

In one case it’s claimed a 35year-old mother-of-two, Alpa Tailor, died from adverse side-effects after the jab; another claimant, Jamie Scott, a father-of-two, says he’s been left with a permanent brain injury.

So what’s the truth about the jab and why is it being scrapped?

Why are they pulling the plug on the vaccine?

It’s no longer any use. In an official announcement earlier this week, Cambridge-based AstraZeneca said it was shutting down production due to a ‘surplus of available updated vaccines’ which target new variants of the virus.

Basically, that means the virus has evolved so much from its early strains that the AZ jab is much less effective than the dozens of more up-to-date ones developed by other drug companies.

‘The vaccine has had its time,’ says Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London. ‘But it was really fundamental in terms of pushing forward the vaccine agenda. There’s no doubt at all that it saved millions of lives.’

Is the real reason the jab’s side-effects?

It is true to say that, fairly early on in the pandemic, several countries suspended the use of the AZ vaccine after reports that some patients had subsequently developed life-threatening blood clots — particularly in the brain.

These countries included Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria and Italy. Germany banned it in the under-60s.

And in April 2021, the Medicines and healthcare Products Regulatory Agency ( MhRA) admitted there was a ‘possible’ link between the jab and rare blood clots, known as thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, which raises the risk of a stroke.

A later analysis at Oxford University suggested that for every 10 million people given the jab, roughly 66 would get a clot in their veins.

In contrast, Covid caused an average of 12,614 clots in veins. even taking the contraceptive pill was a bigger risk than the jab.

Shortly afterwards, it was announced that those under 30 in the UK would be offered alternative jabs.

Last month, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time that the jab could cause clotting problems ‘in very rare cases’.

Professor Adam Finn, an infectious disease specialist at Bristol University, told the Today programme on Radio 4: ‘It’s very clear that this vaccine was associated with clotting — that’s been clear for a long time but only recently acknowledged [ by AstraZeneca].’

But he insisted this rare sideeffect was not relevant to the withdrawal of the AZ vaccine.

Are side-effects proof the vaccine was ‘rushed’ out?

One of the breathtaking features of the AZ vaccine story was the pace at which it was developed.

‘The speed with which it was developed was phenomenal,’ says Professor Openshaw.

This aroused concerns among some sections of the public that the vaccine had been rushed and lacked appropriate safety checks. But experts are adamant no corners were cut.

Furthermore, very rare sideeffects, such as the vaccinerelated clots, won’t always show up in drug trials where only a few hundred, or a few thousand people, are involved.

They often only come to light when millions more people are given them.

Professor Openshaw says: ‘ We have to be honest and say everything we take in terms of medicine carries a risk, however small, but this has to be balanced against the enormous good they can do.’

Was the jab as effective as we were led to believe?

Clinical trials suggested the AZ vaccine was roughly 72 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections when patients were given two doses spaced four to 12 weeks apart.

But the UK switched to using mRNA vaccines, made by Pfizer and Moderna, as these were found to be more effective (the Pfizer vaccine was 97 per cent effective against symptomatic Covid).

How many people in the UK died from the AZ jab?

Figures from the MhRA show 81 deaths in the UK are possibly linked with adverse blood-clotting reactions to the AZ vaccine. That doesn’t mean the jab has been confirmed as the cause of death.

If the jab was safe, why is AstraZeneca being sued?

The 51 victims and relatives of alleged victims are claiming damages worth up £100million.

They argue that the risk of lifethreatening clots means the vaccine was not as safe as individuals were entitled to expect.

They also believe the Government vaccine damage scheme is flawed. It only makes a payout if it can be proved someone died from the vaccine or was left ‘severely disabled’.

Could I suffer side-effects from the jab I had in 2020?

Professor Finn says: ‘Anyone who has received the vaccine in the past without any problems is not at risk of any side - effects now.’