“It is unacceptable that pharmaceutical groups do not respect their contractual commitments”, said Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Friday 5 March.
His country had blocked the previous week the export of 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine to Australia (see EUROPE 12671/9). Italy justifies this blockage by a lack of vaccines available in the EU, whereas in Australia the need for vaccines is less pressing. The European Commission did not oppose the decision.
On Friday, several members of the Australian government called on the EU to reverse the ban. But the European Commission has stated that it has not received any formal request from Australia.
According to spokesperson Miriam García Ferrer, the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, explained the functioning of the European mechanism for transparency in vaccine exports to his Australian counterpart, Dan Tehan, during a telephone meeting on 5 March. “He reassured him that companies that honour their contracts with the EU have no problems with authorisation, including to Australia”, she added.
The Commission authorised 174 vaccine exports to 30 countries between 30 January and 1 March. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)