France could follow Italy and block Covid vaccine exports

EU rules mean shipments can be stopped if delivery targets are not met

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  Visitors take pictures as singers and musicians perform at Rome's landmark Colosseum as it reopens amid an easing of coronavirus restrictions. AFP

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  Visitors walk through the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. AP Photo

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  Restaurants prepare to reopen in Turin. EPA

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  A man sips coffee in front of the Colosseum after its reopening in Rome. AP Photo

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  Museums employee walk down an aisle of the Vatican Museums as they prepare to open. AP Photo

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  People enjoy the late afternoon as restaurants are opened in Milan. EPA

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  People sit at a cafe after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased in Rome. Reuters

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  Departing passengers walk at the International Airport 'Leonardo Da Vinci' in Fiumicino, near Rome. EPA

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  Elderly people wearing face masks play cards in a small park in Milan. EPA

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  People walk around Turin. EPA

France said it could follow Italy in blocking shipments of Covid-19 vaccines abroad, its health minister said, as EU countries look to accelerate inoculation campaigns under fire for being too slow.

Italy, backed by the European Commission, stopped the export to Australia of about 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine after the new Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi called for stronger measures against manufacturers that failed to meet delivery commitments.

The Italian foreign minister said the move was motivated by a lack of vaccines in Europe and Italy, and supply delays from AstraZeneca. It also said Australia was regarded as a “non-vulnerable” country.

But German health minister Jens Spahn said his country had no reason to stop locally made vaccines being exported yet, although he said supply contracts must be met.

Under rules brought in by the European Commission in January, vaccine exports can be curbed if drug makers do not meet delivery targets, after AstraZeneca told the EU it could not meet commitments made under an advance purchase agreement.

About half of the 80 million doses the EU ordered from the company for the first quarter will be delivered.

"Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels, and in particular we have asked the European Commission to review this decision," its health minister Greg Hunt said.

But Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday he could understand the decision, with his country reporting fewer than 1,000 deaths from the virus.

"In Italy, people are dying at the rate of 300 a day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe.

“They are in an unbridled crisis situation. That is not the situation in Australia,” Mr Morrison said on Friday. “But, nevertheless, we have been able to secure our supplies, and additional supplies for importation, both with Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which means we can continue the roll-out of our programme.”

Australia began its vaccination programme last week and is expected to begin local production next month.

EU leaders are under intense pressure over the slowness of the bloc's vaccination campaign, in which about 8 per cent of the population received a dose, compared with more than 30 per cent in the UK.

While the UK approved AstraZeneca’s vaccine in late December, many EU countries were much more cautious amid claims it was not as effective – especially in older people.

But recent studies show that the vaccine does provide strong protection in the elderly and prompted a reversal of that policy in countries such as Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece and Sweden.

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  Caretakers check the temperature of students at the entrance of the Italo Calvino school in Turin. From January 7 primary school and secondary school students are returning to school with 50% capacity. AFP

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  A child gestures after she and other middle school children returned to the classroom at the Cesare Piva school in Rome. Reuters

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  Students enter in the Italo Calvino school in Turin. AFP

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  Middle school children listen to the teacher after returning to the classroom at the Cesare Piva school in Rome. Reuters

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  A student paints graffiti on pictures of Minister of Education Lucia Azzolina and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte pasted on a wall at the entrance of a school in Turin. AFP

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  Students hold a banner reading 'School left without money and without security, we protest to take back our future!' at the entrance of a school in Turin. AFP

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  Middle school students return to class after the Christmas holidays at Tommaseo School in Turin. EPA

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  Middle school students make their way to Tommaseo School in Turin, Italy. EPA

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  Students gather outside Tommaseo School in Turin. EPA

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  Temperature checks are carried out at Tommaseo School in Turin. EPA

Some British MPs condemned Italy’s decision and said it could damage the EU’s global standing.

"Frankly, it amounts to disgraceful behaviour. It comes at the end of a period where it took them a long time to approve the vaccine, then some of their leaders questioned the value of the vaccine, and it looks likely they wasted the vaccine as a result of that because of an uptake shortfall," David Davis, a former UK Brexit Secretary, told The Telegraph.

“And now this. I'm afraid the EU is putting at risk the goodwill of the rest of the world. It is disgraceful behaviour and sad, really, because they are our friends and allies.”