Obviously, not a great situation for anyone. Would be interesting to know what Australia's contract says and when it was signed.
Quote:
Italy blocks shipment of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia
Move threatens to increase global tensions over procurement of Covid jabs
Italy has blocked a shipment of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine that was destined for Australia, in the first such intervention since the EU introduced new rules governing the shipment of vaccines outside the bloc.
Rome decided to prevent the export of 250,000 doses of the vaccine, officials said, as it moves to keep doses inside the union. Italy notified Brussels of its proposed decision at the end of last week under the EU’s vaccine export transparency regime. The European Commission had the power to object to the Italian decision and did not, officials said.
The move threatens to heighten global tensions over vaccine procurement after EU allies objected to the introduction of its export regime. Under the controversial system announced by the commission at the end of January, EU-based vaccine manufacturers must seek authorisation from their national government where their Covid-19 vaccine is produced before exporting it out of the EU. The scheme was part of Brussels’ response to an admission by AstraZeneca that it would miss targets for vaccine delivery to the EU, stoking EU suspicions that production had been shipped elsewhere.
Mario Draghi, the new Italian prime minister, questioned why the EU was not imposing stricter vaccine export controls for companies that were not in compliance with their contractual commitments at a summit of EU leaders last month.
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https://www.ft.com/content/bed655ac-...d-b015284798c8