The step affecting 250,000 doses reflects frustration within the block over the shortage of promised vaccine deliveries.
Australia said it called for a review after the shipment of a quarter of a million AstraZeneca vaccines was blocked from leaving the European Union when the bloc first used an export control system to ensure that major pharmaceutical companies would honor their contracts. .
Italy’s order to block the shipment of 250,000 doses was accepted by the European Commission, which this year has sharply criticized the Anglo-Swedish company for delivering only a fraction of the promised vaccine doses.
The move, which affects only a small number of vaccines, underscores a growing frustration within the 27-country bloc over the slow rollout of its vaccination drive and the shortage of promised vaccine deliveries, especially by AstraZeneca.
“Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels, and in particular we have asked the European Commission to review this decision,” Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
Hunt said Australia had already received 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca injection, which would take until it could produce more of the vaccine locally.
The Financial Times first reported that Italy had pushed for the ban on Thursday. Mario Draghi’s government, who came to power last month, is taking a tougher stance on tackling vaccine shortages.
While seeking the intervention of the European Commission, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he could understand the reasons for Italy’s objection.
“In Italy, 300 people die a day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries in Europe, ”Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Faced with a shortage of doses during the early stages of the vaccination campaign that started at the end of December, the EU has set up an export control system for COVID-19 vaccines.
Under the commission’s “transparency and authorization mechanism”, EU member states are investigating planned exports of authorized COVID-19 vaccines leaving the bloc.
Australia began its COVID-19 vaccination program last month with the Pfizer / BioNTech shot [File: Steven Saphore/AFP]
The EU is specifically angry with AstraZeneca for delivering far fewer doses to the region than promised. Of the initial 80 million doses ordered by the EU for the first quarter, the company will struggle to deliver only half that amount.
‘Worrying trend’
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in January that the EU’s export control program is part of a “very worrying trend” that could endanger global vaccine supply chains. The EU is one of the world’s largest vaccine producers.
The scheme started on January 30 and will remain in effect at the end of March.
The EU has only vaccinated 8 percent of its population, compared to more than 30 percent, for example in the UK. Australia, which closed its borders a year ago and has a negligible number of COVID-19 cases, is in the very early stages of its vaccination drive.
With 450 million people, the EU has agreements for six different vaccines. In total, it has ordered a whopping 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and signed agreements with other companies for more than two billion injections.
It has said that despite the current difficulties, it still believes it could vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population by the end of the warmer months in the region.