Hundreds of Africans who may have suffered the side effects of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines could benefit from a class action against the pharmaceutical company.
According to media reports monitored here on Wednesday, pharmaceutical giant admitted in a London court this week that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause a rare but deadly blood-clotting condition called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
TTS has become the focus of a class-action lawsuit in the United Kingdom High Court, with victims and bereaved families claiming that the vaccine caused fatigue, vomiting, impaired speech, brain injury and, in extreme cases, fatalities.
There have been a total of 51 lawsuits filed against the company, with the victims and families of the deceased seeking damages worth potentially US$125 million.
Some of the African countries that used AstraZeneca vaccines are South Africa, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
JN/APA