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VACCINE: A healthcare worker is preparing a dose of AstraZeneca’s corona vaccine in Italy, which has now blocked a shipment of 200,000 doses of vaccine to Australia. Photo: Alessandra Tarantino / AP / NTB
Italy has stopped exporting 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia, according to various media outlets. This is the first time that EU export controls have been applied.
AstraZeneca vaccines, which were produced in a factory in Italy, were scheduled to be exported to Australia. Italian authorities ordered, with the consent of the European Commission, to halt the shipment, anonymous sources told the Financial Times on Thursday.
The news agencies DPA, AFP and AP also obtain the information confirmed by their sources.
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The European Commission has harshly criticized British-Swedish AstraZeneca for not delivering as many corona vaccines as it promised to the union and.
At the end of January, the EU established a registry to have a chance to stop the export of corona vaccines.
VACCINATED: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the vaccine from Pfizer on February 21, in an effort to increase public confidence in vaccines. Photo: STEVEN SAPHORE / AFP
– Obviously frustrated and disappointed
Australia, which today has very few cases of infection, says it is frustrated that it is not receiving the 250,000 doses it believes it is entitled to.
“We are obviously frustrated and disappointed with the decision,” Australian Finance Minister Simon Birmingham told Australian Sky News.
However, the Australian authorities are clear that they do not believe that the lack of delivery affects the deployment of the vaccine in the country.
According to Birmingham, they have secured access to vaccines through various routes. The country has a contracted supply of 150 million doses of vaccines, of which 50 million will be produced in Australia.
– Production here at home begins with one million doses per week from the end of March, says a spokesman for the Minister of Health, Greg Hunt, in a statement to ABC.
Talia Chancellor Luigi Di Maio, for his part, points out that according to EU rules, Australia is not considered a vulnerable country and that, therefore, the delivery block can not be considered a hostile act.
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Established after conflict
The EU registry allowing this export disruption was established following a dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca over access to vaccines produced in facilities outside the EU, and following suspicions that EU-produced vaccines were being sold to countries outside the Union.
The registry provides the EU with information on whether pharmaceutical companies plan to export vaccines produced in facilities in EU countries to countries outside the union.
The mechanism allows national authorities, in consultation with the European Commission, to stop shipments leaving the EU. The precondition is that the EU believes that a company is not complying with the agreements.
EU allies protested the export controls, and the blocking of a quarter of a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is controversial.
Unlike other manufacturers such as Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna, AstraZeneca, which developed its corona vaccine in conjunction with the British University of Oxford, has yet to deliver the promised doses in the EU and Norway.
The company halved its forecast for first-quarter deliveries from 80 million to 40 million doses, justified by production challenges.
