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The Swedish-British pharmaceutical manufacturer reportedly shipped 250,000 doses of the vaccine to Australia from its plant near Rome, but was not licensed to do so. The European Commission backed the Italian government in its rejection, and Erik Mamer, a spokesman for the panel, said on Friday that they believed vaccines were needed to speed up vaccines in Europe. They complain that AstraZeneca shipped to Australia without fulfilling its promise of European shipping.
With the measure, the EU also entered the world war on vaccines. This war was even started by Donald Trump in early December, when he ruled that vaccines could only be exported from the United States if American supplies were already secured. Similar regulations were introduced in Europe in January, but have not been applied in practice so far. Earlier, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that 95% of the vaccines exported from Europe were manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, but that they had met their European commitments.
With the current rejection, the EU has embarked on the same path as the United States only more radically, Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels, told CNBC. He said the United States shouldn’t have to resort to stopping vaccine shipments at the border because none of the manufacturers have tried to export.
Australia has said for the first time that it will ask Italian and European authorities to reconsider the decision, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison already made a more permissive statement on Friday, saying the serious epidemic in Europe should also be taken into account.
Cover image: Getty Images
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