France backs Italy in row over sending Aussies jabs
AUSTRALIA has denied its coronavirus vaccine rollout is in jeopardy despite France threatening to follow Italy’s lead in blocking supplies.
Health minister Greg Hunt said he was on course to achieve an ‘efficient and equitable distribution of vaccines’, as he received one of the country’s first Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs in Melbourne.
But behind the scenes, concerned officials are said to be scrambling to ensure that supplies can continue amid a row with the EU.
Italy last week halted a flight that was taking the Australians 250,000 doses of the Oxford jab, made at the Anagni plant near Rome.
Brussels is reviewing that decision, which was based on accusations that British-Swedish giant AstraZeneca was failing to meet its first obligation to give EU countries promised doses.
Italy has threatened to take similar action again and the French health minister Olivier Véran has now said his government ‘could do the same’.
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, said last week the delay of one shipment would not have a major impact, adding he could ‘understand the anxiety’ when Italians are dying at
a rate of 300 a day. There have been no Covid deaths in Australia this year.
In Italy, only 322,000 doses of the 1.5million AstraZeneca vaccines supplied have been injected – one of the lowest usage rates in the EU.
Millions of doses are said to be sitting unused in the bloc because of doubts over their efficacy, prompting calls for them to be sent to poor countries so they are not wasted.
But both France and Italy have recently approved the jab for all ages.