AstraZeneca vaccine is now called Vaxzevria

The corona vaccine from the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is now called Vaxzevria. This is reported by the Swedish medicines agency Läkemedelsverket based on data from the European medicines agency EMA.

On March 25, the EMA approved the name change of the AstraZeneca vaccine. From now on, the vaccine will be known as Vaxzevria, which is accompanied by new packaging, among other things. It is merely a name change, the vaccine itself remains unchanged.

The vaccine from the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company is equally the concern of the European vaccine strategy. On January 29, the vaccine was given the green light by the EMA, but several countries decided to initially only administer it to people under the age of 55.

At the beginning of this month, several European countries temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine administration due to a few cases of blood clots and a low platelet count. The EMA reconfirmed on March 18 that the vaccine is safe and effective and that the benefits outweigh the harms but is investigating the matter further.

In addition, the company also took the wrath of the European Union by cutting back the promised deliveries time and again. This resulted in high tensions between the EU on the one hand and the United Kingdom on the other, which means that AstraZeneca vaccines produced in Europe are no longer sent to the UK.

The EU also no longer wants to export vaccines to countries where the epidemiological situation is much better or countries where vaccination coverage is already high. The Commission emphasizes that there is no export ban. It does, however, want to make more explicit that European citizens get “their fair share”. Negotiations are currently underway with the UK to iron out the fold.