AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine vials (COVID-19) during the first day of a massive vaccination of police and firefighters at the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium.
Marcos del Mazo | LightRocket | Getty Images
LONDON – The European Union has made its first intervention in the supply of coronavirus vaccines, and Italy reportedly blocked a shipment of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to Australia on Thursday.
Reuters reported, citing two sources, that AstraZeneca had applied for permission in Rome to send some 250,000 doses to the Anagni plant. However, the Italian government refused. The Financial Times also reported the same story. An AstraZeneca spokesman was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
In January, the European Union made temporary controls on the export of vaccines carried out within the bloc, following a dispute with British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and wider supply problems. The EU has been pressured by what critics describe as a slow deployment of Covid vaccines.
The European Commission, the institution that leads the purchase agreements, has been accused of not getting enough vaccines and has criticized the region’s medical agency for taking too long to approve inoculations that have received the green light elsewhere.
Controls will be extended until the end of March and will give powers to EU member states to refuse export authorizations if vaccine manufacturers do not comply with contracts.