Australia Blames European Union for Faltering Vaccine Rollout
7 Apr 2021
(AFP) Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday blamed restricted vaccine supply from Europe for his country’s halting coronavirus inoculation efforts, as he faced growing public frustration over the sluggish rollout.
Scott Morrison said vaccine shortages and “strict export controls” introduced by the European Commission meant Australia received just 700,000 of a contracted 3.8 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
His government, which received global praise for successfully containing Australia’s coronavirus outbreak, has fallen far behind its vaccine rollout schedule.
It had initially pledged to administer four million doses by the end of March, but had instead managed about 920,000 shots by Wednesday drawing increasing criticism that Morrison tried to address at a hastily organised press conference.
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7 Mar 2021
The European Union will reportedly call upon U.S. President Joe Biden to bail out their fledgeling coronavirus vaccination drive, which has seen the bloc seize exports of vaccines to Australia.
The European Commission plans to ask the United States to allow the export of millions of U.S.-made doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University to the bloc somewhat ironically, given its approval of Italy seizing EU-made AstraZeneca doses bound for Australia.
The
Financial Timesreported that the Commission will raise the issue with American officials at an upcoming meeting to discuss transatlantic strategy in dealing with the pandemic.
BRUSSELS (AP) - Europe's vaccine solidarity got a shot in the arm Friday as France rallied to support Italy, saying it could follow suit in blocking exports of coronavirus vaccines outside the European Union if necessary to enforce its own contracts with drugs manufacturers.