Australia minimizes, 'only lost one lot from one country'

Italy is the first country in the European Union to refuse the export of AstraZeneca doses of Covid -19 vaccines.

The decision to block the export of 250,000 doses of the pharmaceutical company to Australia was notified yesterday.

Canberra minimizes the impact of Italy's decision to block exports.

"This is a batch from one country", a spokesman for the Australian health ministry told AFP and the shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Italy "has not been taken into account in our distribution plan for the next few weeks" .

Australia has already received 300,000 AstraZeneca doses and the first of them is expected to be administered today.

The batch, along with Pfizer supplies, is expected to run until AstraZeneca's in-house production is increased. 

   "In Italy, people are dying at the rate of 300 per day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety in Italy and in many countries across Europe. I am in a situation of unbridled crisis. This is not the situation at present. Australia ": Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said about Italy's decision to block the export of 250,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

"This particular expedition was not the one we had relied on for the launch of the vaccination campaign, and therefore we will continue unabated," Morrison reiterated as his health ministry already pointed out.