Analyst Downgrades AstraZeneca Stock Due to Vaccine Side Effect Concerns

Shares of AstraZeneca (NASDAQ: AZN) are under pressure again following an analyst downgrade. Concerns about the pharmaceutical company's coronavirus vaccine led Argus Research to lower its rating on the stock from buy to hold on Monday morning.

Last Wednesday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said unusual blood clots with low blood platelets should be listed as a very rare side effect of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, recently given the trade name Vaxzevria. The risk of death from COVID-19 is many orders of magnitude greater, but delays to Vaxzevria's European roll-out had already damaged public opinion regarding it. Across the EU and the U.K., around 34 million people have been vaccinated as of April 4, 2021. Over that period, 222 blood clots were reported to the EMA's side-effect hotline. The vast majority of those were non-fatal.

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Source Fool.com