The Italian Government has refused to authorise the export of 250,700 doses of AstraZeneca/University of Oxford鈥檚 Covid-19 vaccine to Australia. This export denial has been approved by the European Commission (EC), the European Union (EU)鈥檚 executive branch.
This decision occurs in the aftermath of the EU鈥檚 public row with AstraZeneca over vaccine supply commitments in January 2021. During that disagreement, the EC introduced a temporary export mechanism requiring companies to seek authorisation from the country where the vaccine is manufactured to export the doses out of the EU. This is the first time this export mechanism has been used by any EU country.
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In a , the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs justified its move by noting that the destination of supply is Australia, which is considered 鈥榥on-vulnerable鈥�, as well as that 250,700 was a large number of doses 鈥渃ompared to the quantity of doses so far supplied to Italy and, more generally, to EU countries鈥�.
The ministry also spoke about the ongoing shortage of Covid-19 vaccines, and particularly the AstraZeneca/Oxford product, in the EU and Italy. According to an Italian Ministry of Health vaccines , 4.9 million vaccine doses have been administered in Italy to date, of which 1.5 million are AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines. This compares unfavourably to where 20.9 million doses have been administered in total; there are no publicly available figures for how many AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine doses have been rolled out across the UK.
Australia has responded to Italy鈥檚 export block by asking the EC to review the decision. According to the , Australian Minister for Health Greg Hunt said his government 鈥渉ad raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels鈥�.
In an with Sky News Australia, Australia鈥檚 finance minister Simon Birmingham said: “The world is in unchartered territory at present – it’s unsurprising that some countries would tear up the rule book.鈥�
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By GlobalDataAustralia has emphasised that Italy鈥檚 export ban will not affect the country鈥檚 Covid-19 vaccine rollout. According to the Financial Times and Sky News, the government noted that it had enough vaccines until local manufacturing of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine by CSL begins in late March.
Italy is not the only EU country interested in applying the EC鈥檚 export mechanism. France stated that it was considering following Italy鈥檚 example to block Covid-19 vaccine exports. The reported that in an interview with BFMTC, France鈥檚 health minister Olivier V茅ran said: 鈥淲e could do the same鈥�. Like Italy, France has struggled with its Covid-19 rollout.
AstraZeneca has yet to make a public statement about the situation.
