Italy, backed by the European Union's executive arm, used export controls to stop around 250,000 doses leaving for Australia earlier this week, after the drug manufacturer failed to fulfill its European Union order.
"Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels," Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt told reporters on Friday.
Morrison acknowledges greater urgency in Italy
Despite the hold-up, Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison was compassionate: "In Italy people are dying at the rate of 300 a day. So I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe," Morrison told reporters in Sydney.
The government "always anticipated" that a problem like this might arise, Morrison said, adding: "That's why we've done a number of things, the most significant of which is to ensure that we have our own domestically produced vaccine."
Hold-up won't delay Australia's vaccine drive
The blocked shipment will not impact Australia's vaccine rollout, Australian health authorities and Morrison maintained.
Australia has secured 53.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, of which 50 million will be made locally by pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd.
The Australia-based company expects to release the first batch near the end of March.
Australia had already received 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, that will last until local production of the vaccine ramps up, Hunt said.
EU, Italy defend vaccine blockade position
"The whole thing is not a hostile act by Italy against Australia," Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook on Friday. He said the decision was simply "part of the regulation approved on January 30 in Europe, the Export Mechanism that prevents vaccine doses for the Union from being shipped and marketed outside the EU."
EU commission chief spokesman Eric Mamer also spoke up in support: "The fact is that the European Union is a major exporter of vaccine doses."
"We believe that this vaccine is an important element of our portfolio and we therefore are expecting the delivery of the agreed doses," Mamer said.
He added: "We are working with the companies in order to ensure that they deliver the doses that are foreseen for the EU. For all those companies that are doing that, there are no problem with exports."
France rallied to support Italy, saying it could follow suit in blocking exports of coronavirus vaccines outside the EU if necessary to enforce its own contracts with drugs manufacturers.
Cooperation vs. competition for a vaccine?
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German MEP slams move
Bernd Lange, a German MEP from the Social Democrat Party (SDP), told DW that Italy's decision to block the export of AstraZeneca vaccine doses to Australia risked triggering a protectionist response from other countries.
"On the one hand, you are asking in the WTO to reduce tariffs and cut down non-tariff revenues and at the same moment, you establish protective measures inside the European Union," Lange, who is also the chair of the European Union's committee on foreign trade, said in an interview. "This is an excuse for other countries to establish similar protective measures."
His proposed solution was to loosen patent protections for vaccines so that other companies can produce them.
"I think we should really go for a little bit of pressure on the companies to allow other companies to use the patents and the technical know-how to establish more production capacity," Lange told DW.
In part due to supply chain issues, the EU has vaccinated only 8% percent of its population compared to over 30%, for example, in the United Kingdom. The EU's sluggish progress on approving various vaccines, including AstraZeneca's, also played a decisive role, however.
Australia began its inoculation program two weeks ago. It is under less pressure than many other countries to vaccinate, having recorded just under 29,000 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths, from a population of around 25 million.
By comparison, Germany, with a population of over 83 million, has recorded over 71,000 deaths from the virus and over 2 million cases.
ab,kmm/msh (Reuters, AP)
COVID vaccinations begin across Europe
Eleven months after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, EU states have kicked off programs to vaccinate the vulnerable and front-line health care workers.
Image: Ciro De Luca/REUTERS
Millions of initial doses produced
From Sweden to Cyprus, Lithuania to Italy, the push to get people their first shots is now under way, 11 months after the first cases were reported in Europe. EU leaders have dubbed the launch of the drive "V-Day," a moment of unity in a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people worldwide.
Image: Marijan Murat/dpa/picture alliance
Elderly population a priority
Edith Kwoizalla, aged 101, was one of the first Germans to be vaccinated. She took the first of two doses at a care home in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Saturday, a day before the official launch. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said he expected 1.3 million doses to be delivered by the end of the year, with double that number by the end of January.
Image: Matthias Bein/dpa/picture alliance
Vaccine will also work on variant: BioNTech
The vaccine, developed partly by a German firm, has been snapped up by governments around the world. BioNTech has "scientific confidence" that its coronavirus vaccine will also work on the new variant detected in the UK, company CEO Ugur Sahin told DW.
The proteins on the mutated form of the virus were 99% the same as the prevailing virus, he said.
Image: Danny Lawson/empics/picture alliance
Hungary starts a day early
Hungary began vaccinating health care workers on Saturday, a day ahead of the EU's planned start date. Hungary has recorded over 316,000 cases and more than 9,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Image: Szilard Koszticsak/REUTERS
Polish paramedics vaccinated first
A Warsaw paramedic was one of the first people to receive the vaccine in Poland on Sunday. The first batch of 10,000 doses was transported from Pfizer's facility in Belgium to a warehouse in central Poland a day earlier. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called the launch "a great step in fighting the epidemic."
Image: Kacper Pempel/REUTERS
Politicians aim to ease concerns
EU leaders and scientists have gone to great lengths to insist the vaccine is safe. In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Andrej Babis (seen here) was at the head of the line for his vaccination on Sunday. In Vienna, three women and two men over the age of 80 got the vaccine in the presence of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Image: David W Cerny/REUTERS
'I didn't feel anything': first Swedish patient
Sweden, which has received praise and criticism for its looser handling of the pandemic, is expecting an initial batch of 10,000 shots, along with Norway. Denmark expects to have enough shots to initially vaccinate 40,000 people in care homes, followed by health care staff and those people with a high risk of illness. Iceland will receive 10,000 doses early in January.
Image: Stefan Jerrevång/TT/picture alliance
First doses arrive in Cyprus
An 84-year-old man became the first patient to receive the coronavirus vaccine in Cyprus. While Europe has some of the best-resourced health care systems in the world, the sheer scale of the effort means some countries are calling on retired medics to help. Other countries have loosened rules for who is allowed to give the injections.
Image: Katia Christodoulou/AP/picture alliance
Three-stage program in Austria
A health care worker at the Hospital Favoriten in Vienna was one of the first in line to receive the vaccine. Austria is rolling the vaccine out through a three-stage program, starting with health care workers and people over the age of 65. Austria has recorded over 350,000 cases and more than 5,800 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Image: Lisi Niesner/REUTERS
France: A million vaccinations by February
Mauricette, a 78-year-old French woman, was the first person to receive a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at the Rene-Muret hospital in Sevran, on the outskirts of Paris. France is aiming to vaccinate the first million people by the end of February. The country has been one of the hardest hit in Europe, with over 2.6 million recorded cases and nearly 63,000 deaths.
Image: Thomas Samson/REUTERS
Thumbs up in Italy
Italy began distributing the first batch of 10,000 shots on Sunday at the Niguarda hospital in Milan (seen here). In Rome, a 29-year-old nurse was the first to receive the jab at Rome's Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases. Health workers were first in line, with those over 80 to follow.
Image: Matteo Bazzi/REUTERS
Portugal aims for 10% of the population
The first phase of Portugal's vaccine rollout aims to inoculate 10% of the population, with front-line workers and those over 50 with preexisting conditions taking priority. Here, a medical worker receives the vaccine at Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon.
Image: Pedro Nunes/REUTERS
Ambitious rollout in Spain
Spain is set to receive 350,000 doses from Pfizer-BioNTech per week, with a total of nearly 4.6 million to be delivered over the next three months. The government has said it aims to vaccinate between 15 million and 20 million people in the first half of 2021. Here, a 72-year-old receives the first injection at the Vallecas nursing home in Madrid.
