The move, which affects 250,000 doses, reflects frustration within the bloc over the shortage of promised vaccine deliveries.
Australia said it had requested a review after the shipment of a quarter of a million AstraZeneca vaccines could leave the European Union in the first use of an export control system designed to ensure large pharmaceutical companies would respect their contracts.
Italy’s order blocking the dispatch of 250,000 doses was accepted by the European Commission, which this year sharply criticized the Anglo-Swedish company for delivering only a fraction of the vaccine dose it had promised.
The move, which affects only a small number of vaccines, highlights growing frustration in the 27-nation bloc over the slow introduction of the vaccine and the shortage of promised vaccine deliveries, particularly by AstraZeneca.
“Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through various 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 AstraZeneca shot, which would take until it could produce more of the vaccine locally.
The Financial Times first reported that Italy had called for a ban on Thursday. The government of Mario Draghi, who came to power last month, is taking a stricter line in dealing with vaccine shortages.
While questioning the European Commission’s intervention, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he could understand the reasons for Italy’s objection.
‘In Italy, 300 people die every day. “And so I can definitely understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe,” Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
Faced with the shortage of doses in the early stages of the vaccination campaign that began at the end of December, the EU has introduced an export control system for COVID-19 vaccines.
Under the commission’s “transparency and authorization mechanism”, the EU countries veterinarian has planned the export of authorized COVID-19 vaccines leaving the block.
Australia launched its COVID-19 vaccination program with the Pfizer / BioNTech jab last month [File: Steven Saphore/AFP]
The EU was particularly angry with AstraZeneca for delivering far fewer doses to the region than he had promised. Of the initial 80 million doses the EU ordered for the first quarter, the company will struggle to deliver only half that amount.
Anxious trend
The World Health Organization (WHO) said in January that the EU research scheme was part of a ‘very worrying trend’ that could jeopardize global vaccine supply chains. The EU is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world.
The scheme started on 30 January and will run until at least the end of March.
The EU has vaccinated only 8 per cent of its population compared to more than 30 per cent, for example in the United Kingdom. Australia, which closed its borders a year ago and has a significant number of COVID-19 cases, is in the early stages of its vaccination process.
With its 450 million people, the EU has signed agreements for six different vaccines. In total, it has ordered as many as 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and entered into agreements with other companies for more than two billion shots.
It is said that despite the current problems, it is still convinced that by the end of the warmer months it can vaccinate 70 percent of the adult population.