The AstraZeneca vaccine was one of the first vaccines available for use in the UK and around the world during the COVID pandemic. However, its use has declined across the pandemic, and it is not used much elsewhere in Europe or in the US where it has yet to be approved. The reason for its limited use in high-income countries could be a combination of two factors. First, it’s likely that the mRNA vaccines (specifically those manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna) are perceived to be even more effective than AstraZeneca. And second, the vaccine’s reputation took a hit when some people who received this vaccine subsequently developed blood clots. These adverse events gained significant media coverage, and public confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine was certainly knocked in the UK and beyond. For example, in April 2021, Denmark became the first European country to cease using the vaccine, with Norway following soon after. Around the same time, several Canadian provinces temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under 55 as a precautionary measure.

In addition, dozens of patients and families have launched legal action against AstraZeneca over a rare side effect of its COVID-19 vaccine, which includes stroke, heart failure, and leg amputations. The Serum Institute of India, an AstraZeneca manufacturing partner, recently announced that it was destroying 100 million unused, expired doses, and it stopped making the vaccine in December 2021 owing to low demand. Production and deliveries of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been falling since the beginning of 2022, while it has also taken it nearly two years to fulfill orders originally agreed in 2020.

As of August 2022, there are no plans to order further supplies of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for the UK, and the decision was down to a recommendation by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that mRNA vaccines – such as the Pfizer or Moderna jabs – should primarily be used for boosters. While the JCVI has previously advised booster shots with the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab can occur in exceptional circumstances, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has now procured supplies of the Novavax vaccine – approved by the MHRA in February – which the JCVI has recommended should be offered to people who cannot have mRNA vaccines for clinical reasons, such as allergic reactions.