It appears that Italy is blocking the export of a shipment of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines to Australia due to the company’s failure to deliver all the promised doses to the European Union.
Two sources told Reuters in a report released on Thursday that the decision is supported by the European Commission.
AstraZeneca had wanted Italy to send 250,000 doses of vaccine to Australia from a factory near Rome, sources told Reuters. Except The EU has given countries the right to block shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in coordination with Oxford University after disputes erupted because the company was unable to deliver the promised amount of vaccine doses.
Back in January, AstraZeneca has broken its previous promises 80 million doses to 31 million. The reduction came at a time when the EU was already accused of slowly launching the vaccine.
In response, the European Commission told countries it was allowed to block vaccine shipments.
Hill contacted AstraZeneca for further comment.
Countries are struggling to vaccinate their populations, as inoculation is seen as the key to reopening business and returning to pre-pandemic economic conditions.
The AstraZeneca vaccine has not yet been approved for use in the United States. The three vaccines currently available in America come from the drug manufacturers Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and, more recently, Johnson & Johnson.