Rome, Italy.
The discovery in Italy of a reserve of 29 million doses from vaccine from AstraZeneca against him COVID-19 Wednesday fueled mistrust in the EU and led to a denial by the laboratory about the fate of them medicines.
The doses were identified by officials Italians during an inspection of a packaging plant in Anagni, nearby Roma.
AstraZeneca is at the center of an uproar controversy over significant delivery delays committed to the EU.
The announcement of this discovery, reported by the Italian press and then confirmed by European fonts, became known on the same day that the EU decided to drastically strengthen its control mechanism vaccine exports.
Under heavy pressure, the laboratory ensured that the 29 million Stored doses were pending “QA”.
He further noted: 16 million doses were intended for EU countries and 13 million would be for the international fund COVAX, support for low-income countries.
“Currently, no exports are planned outside of the COVAX program countries,” said a spokesman AstraZeneca“They are about to be delivered 10 million doses to EU countries in the last week of March, the rest in April, ”he added.
At the same time is a government source of the UK denied that any of the doses stored in Italy were intended London, and an Italian government official said that “they appeared to be intended Belgium “, a country that acts as a platform for the distribution of vaccines.
AstraZeneca produces its vaccines within the EU in two factories in Belgium and the Netherlands, while the factory in Italy handles the bottling.
See: Two soldiers die after being inoculated with AstraZeneca
The inspection of the Italian site in Anagni was requested by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, and the EU will now verify who these vaccines were intended for, a European official told AFP.
“We suspect that AstraZeneca had more production capacity in it Europe from the one that was registered, ”he noted.
AstraZeneca had initially promised 120 million doses to EU countries in the first quarter, but later admitted that it could only deliver 30 million.