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LAST UPDATE: 14.43
Italian authorities have discovered about 29 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine at a factory in Italy, La Stampa reported Wednesday, according to Politico. In particular, according to the Italian newspaper, the deliveries are said to be in an industry outside of Rome, in the Annani area.
According to the newspaper, the doses are most likely coming from an AstraZeneca plant in the Netherlands, which has not yet been approved for production in the EU.
La Stampa cites EU sources who claim that these doses were originally intended for Great Britain. However, exports came to a halt when the EU introduced a mechanism to limit vaccine exports.
La Stampa writes that this “treasure” was located by the European authorities, who notified the Italians. The whole matter came to light, as reported, during the visit of the European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton to the vaccine production unit located in Halix, the Netherlands, from where, according to the Turin newspaper, some six million were shipped. AstraaZeneca dose rate for the first vaccination dose in the UK.
The Annani industry bottles the vaccines, which are then ready to be shipped to the various recipients. According to the European authorities, many of the vaccine vials found in Annani contain the product AstraZeneca, which was produced in Halix, the Netherlands. It is suspected that the ultimate goal is to be able to provide, in this way, the second dose necessary to vaccinate the population in Great Britain.
If it is confirmed that these tranches were destined for export, the issue of blocking the shipment should be on the table, a French presidential official previously said, according to the French agency Reuters.
AstraZeneca will have to increase deliveries of Covid-19 vaccines to the European Union following the alleged discovery of around 29 million doses in Italy, according to a German government source on Wednesday.
“Perhaps there is an opportunity now to significantly boost deliveries (to the EU), as promised by the AstraZeneca CEO,” the source said.
This discovery comes as the Commission has harshly criticized AstraZeneca for reducing vaccine deliveries, failing to meet the original delivery targets set out in the EU agreement. The latest promise from the company is to deliver in the first quarter of the year 30 million doses, almost equal to the amount discovered today. It should be noted that the company initially committed to deliver 120 million doses of vaccine to the EU during the first quarter of the year.
The vaccine discovery also coincides with the Commission’s efforts to introduce new rules that could reduce EU vaccine exports for six weeks. The rules target places like the UK and the US, countries that receive doses from the EU but do not ship their own vaccines or have vaccinated the majority of the EU population.
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