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According to the newspaper, the vaccines likely arrived in Italy from the Halix plant in the Netherlands, which had not yet received European Union (EU) approval for vaccine production.
As a result, the doses cannot yet be used in the EU. But the Italian press is considering that they were ready to export from the EU.
According to sources at La Stampa from the EU institutions, the vaccines were to be shipped to the UK, but exports stopped when the bloc established a mechanism to restrict the export of vaccines from the Community.
A senior French Financial Times official soon said that tens of millions of doses of AstraZeneca were destined for use outside the EU and that its exports would be blocked.
By the way, 29 million. twice what AstraZeneca has delivered to the Community so far.
Europe – not a useful idiot
“In fact, an inspection was carried out at the Annan plant this weekend, during which 29 million doses were found. It is necessary to specify where they have to travel,” the official said.
Reuters soon reported that the doses were to travel to Belgium. It is not clear whether they were to be exported from Belgium outside the Community or distributed to EU countries.
The newspaper writes that AstraZeneca did not inform the EU about the doses withheld at a plant in Italy operated by the American pharmaceutical company Catalent.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Catalent plant in Ananji
Catalent receives vaccine components for Ananji from other members of the AstraZeneca supply chain and manufactures complete COVID-19 vaccines at this facility.
Following an inspection at the Halix plant, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton asked where the vaccines produced here travel and warned Italian officials.
The European Commission (EC) criticizes AstraZeneca’s vaccine manufacturers for not supplying the Community with as many vaccines as specified in the contract.
France and other EU members do not hide the fact that factories in EU countries export millions of doses to third countries and that the Community itself does not receive vaccines from abroad.
“Europe does not want to be an idiot in this whole situation,” added the French official. – We do not want to constantly argue with the UK, but the facts speak for themselves. Millions of doses are exported to the UK and nothing happens in the opposite direction. We want justice. “
Sigismund Gedvila / 15 min photo / AstraZeneca vaccine
Why not apply before?
The UK reacted calmly to a pile of European press reports on Wednesday alleging that AstraZeneca doses were hidden and should have traveled outside the English Channel, but of course denied the information.
The accumulated doses at the Ananjo plant are said to be shipped to European and developing countries under the COVAX program. Sources at The Daily Telegraph told the government that London was not even waiting for a shipment from Italy.
However, there are hooks. An EU spokesperson told Reuters that some, perhaps even most, of the doses at the Catalent plant could have come from a trip from the aforementioned Halix plant in the Netherlands.
Officially, the Ananjo plant bottles AstraZeneca vaccines produced at the Halix facility.
As mentioned above, Halix plants have not yet been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the vaccines produced there cannot be used in the Community.
According to Brussels, AstraZeneca has not yet provided EMA with all the necessary data to validate the plant’s production. It’s unclear why, the company declines to comment.
Interestingly, the Halix plant should also supply vaccines to Britain, which is asking the EU to allow the doses produced there to be exported across the English Channel.
Will shipments be blocked under the COVAX program?
AstraZeneca finally provided an explanation Wednesday afternoon. The Ananjo plant is said to have 13 million. doses to be distributed under the COVAX program and allegedly arrived in Italy from other plants outside the Community. The other 16 million. Doses are intended for EU countries.
In addition, Mario Gargiulo, a Catalent spokesman, said that the carabinieri had visited the plant and assured that “they found no problems with the company’s documents.”
“At any given time, we have a balance between the ready-to-bottle vaccine dose components and the already-bottled vials that are waiting to travel to AstraZeneca’s distribution centers,” Gargiulo explained.
In recent weeks it has been suspected that some shipments go to COVAX countries but are then diverted to rich countries.
Experts say that the fact that a plant like Ananjo stores millions of doses of the vaccine at a time is not uncommon. Mr. Gargiulo, for his part, stressed that Catalent did not know where the doses were going, since the decision was made by the client, in this case AstraZeneca.
Sigismund Gedvila / 15 min photo / “AstraZeneca” vaccine
So far, the EU has blocked only one shipment of AstraZeneca vaccines to travel from Italy to Australia. A further 314 vaccine export applications have been granted and community officials have consistently stressed that they have no problems, for example with Pfizer, which is in breach of its obligations, unlike AstraZeneca.
Incidentally, the French official has not denied that the EU’s vaccine export control mechanism has tightened this week in terms of potency and countries awaiting vaccine doses under the COVAX program.
“We have suspected in recent weeks that some shipments go to COVAX countries but are then diverted to rich countries,” said the Frenchman.
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