EU stops vaccines to Australia.
The Italian government has stopped a shipment of 250,000 Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 doses from travelling to Australia.
The ban comes amid tension between the EU and AstraZeneca over commitments to supply the vaccine.
Italy’s foreign ministry said the decision to deny the shipment was made because Australia was “not vulnerable” due to the low number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and the shortage of vaccines in Italy and the EU. abc.net.au
Only 273,000 AstraZeneca doses have been administered in France out of 1.7 million received as of the end of February, according to Paris health ministry figures.
According to that report, France is holding 1.4 million doses of AstraZeneca in storage, probably due to the French President saying that AstraZeneca is not really effective.
France, Germany struggle to sell AstraZeneca vaccine safety.
Stocks of the vaccines from the British-Swedish firm are going unused in both countries, (France and Germany) depriving officials of a crucial tool to help end a pandemic, according to france24.com
While Italy refuses to permit one of its manufacturers to honour its commitment to send 250,000 doses of the British-Swedish vaccine, manufactured in Italy, to Australia.
That’s the European Union working in unison?