The Australian Trade Minister said that Australia will join hands with other countries to allow the European Union to deliver the 250,000 doses of the Coronavirus vaccine required from pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Last week, a Swedish-British pharmaceutical company requested permission from the Italian government to export 250,000 doses of the vaccine to Australia from its plant near Rome. The Italian government rejected the request and the European Commission agreed, saying the company had failed to fulfill delivery obligations to EU member states.
So, Australian Trade Minister Dan Tehan described the decision as worrying
The country wants to join Canada, Japan, Norway and New Zealand to press against the European Union.
According to local media, Dan Tehan has already discussed the matter with the union, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the World Trade Organization. The so-called Ottawa group will play a leading role in the lobbying. Canada leads the group of members of the World Trade Organization and includes the European Union.
The minister stressed that due to the lack of delivery, Australia is having difficulty obtaining vaccines for help Smaller countries in the region, which have a hard time knowing this Shipments They fight for themselves.
Australia has so far received 300,000 doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca, and vaccination with the vaccine began on Friday. According to official estimates, this batch, as well as the shipment from Pfizer, will continue until domestic production increases at the end of March. It is expected that a total of fifty million doses of the vaccine will be manufactured in Australia and that a large proportion of the adult population will be vaccinated by the end of October.
