On Thursday, Italy blocked the export of 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca to Australia, becoming the first EU country to ban exports due to a shortage of vaccines in the bloc.
Why it’s important: The controversial step poses multiple major challenges to vaccine distribution, even among the richest countries in the world.
The state of play: AstraZeneca has already lagged behind in delivering doses to the EU. Now the company says it will supply less than half of the initially promised doses also in the second quarter.
- This has infuriated European leaders, who are under pressure due to a remarkably inefficient vaccine launch to date. Only one dose has been administered in the EU for every three in the US and every four in the UK, adjusted for population.
- This explains Italy’s decision, with the support of the European Commission, to block a shipment of 250,000 doses to Australia from a US-owned plant near Rome, where the roads were filling.
- The action was carried out under a system developed in January, amid a strong dispute with AstraZeneca over access to doses produced in Britain, to allow the blockade of vaccine exports if a company it has not fulfilled its obligations to the EU.
But, however: Supply is not the only problem. EU countries, including Italy, are already sitting on hundreds of thousands of unused doses of AstraZeneca.
- There has been a general feeling of hesitation around the vaccine, fueled in part by a misreporting report on its effectiveness in a German newspaper and by the strange statement by French President Emmanuel Macron that it was “almost ineffective” in people. over 65 years.
- France and Germany only approved the vaccine for people over 65 this week after it was delayed due to insufficient data.
- By numbers: France had only administered 16% of the doses of AstraZeneca it had received last Friday, while Italy and Germany have used 21%.
Leading the news: Real-world data from the UK, which is heavily dependent on the self-produced vaccine, which was developed at Oxford University, suggests that the vaccine is very effective in preventing hospitalizations among the elderly even after ‘a single dose.
Between lines: EU countries have caused two international incidents, with the UK and now Australia, over access to a vaccine they use virtually.
- And all this is happening at a time when countries around the world, many of which will depend on the AstraZeneca vaccine, have not had access to any vaccine.
What to see: Italy’s decision also highlights the difficulties that countries that depend on imports have for receiving doses.
- Canada, for example, has ordered more doses in relation to its population than any other country, but has received relatively few.
- Meanwhile, the United States, which has the largest vaccine manufacturing capacity in the world, according to Airfinity, is producing enough doses in May to cover its entire adult population.