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The Italian government has intercepted a shipment of Oxford-AstraZeneca forensic tickers while sending them to Australia.
As a result, 2.5 million doses of Italian-made vaccines are not shipped to Australia. News from the BBC and Al Jazeera.
Under new guidelines from the European Union (EU), if a vaccine company fails to abide by the terms of an agreement with a coalition, member states will have the opportunity to suspend vaccine exports.
Italy is the first EU member state to use the directive. Australia says the loss of a bill will not hamper its vaccination program.
The European Commission has said it supports the decision to suspend vaccine shipments to the country. Australia will appeal to Italy and the European Commission to review the decision.
In the first three months of this year, AstraZeneca promised to supply only 40 percent of the vaccines it promised to EU member states. The company blames the production problem for the shortage.
In January, then-Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the delay in delivery of the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines as “unacceptable.” He also alleged that the company was violating the terms of the two agreements.
There has been widespread criticism of the EU for slowing down vaccination programs in member states. Under the EU vaccine scheme in June last year, the 28-nation alliance will be able to negotiate the purchase of vaccines on behalf of its member states.
There has been no official response from the EU or AstraZeneca on the decision to suspend exports of 2.5 million doses of ticker to Australia.
Australia has launched its Covid-19 vaccination program with Pfizer / Bioentech vaccines since last week. The AstraZeneca vaccine is also expected to begin in the country on Friday.
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