By Charlotte Webster-
Over 700,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been sent to Australia despite a shortage of jabs in the UK.
Australia’s vaccine rollout was quietly expanded by a shipment from Britain to avoid controversy, according to reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The first 300,000 British-made doses landed at Sydney airport on February 28 – a month after the European Commission adopted curbs on the export of vaccines produced in the EU, the newspaper said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, expressed awareness of the shipment on Thursday morning, but said the 717,000 doses manufactured in the UK had not been sent to Australia by the Government.
“No, the British Government has a contract with seven companies now, but of course including AstraZeneca, for the delivery by AstraZeneca to the UK for us to deploy through the NHS, and that’s the bit I’m responsible for.”
Mr Hancock told Sky News: “In terms of what the companies do, these companies are manufacturing for all around the world, and we source from everywhere in the world, so what I’m in control of, what matters for us as the UK Government, is making sure that we get the supplies that we have got contracted from the companies.”
Mr Hancock last month made reference to vaccine shortages in Britain amid growing chaos with supplies.
London and Brussels have been in a dispute over vaccine supply, after European leaders accused AstraZeneca of prioritising post-Brexit Britain ahead of Europe’s 450 million citizens.
In early March, European Council President Charles Michel claimed the UK had “imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory”. That claim was wrong because doses manufactured in the UK had already been exported to Australia a fortnight earlier.
The British government denied the claim of an outright ban. emphasising it had not blocked any export, but declined to confirm whether any vaccines had been sent abroad and if so, where.
The revelation that Australia had received AstraZeneca doses made in Britain is seen as an explanation as to why Italy and the European Commission blocked the shipment of 250,000 doses in early March. It is likely that European officials knew then that the doses that had arrived in Australia in late February originated in the UK.
Block
Last month, the Italian government blocked the export of 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia.
Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, says his country is owed more than 3.1 million doses of the vaccine and on Wednesday demanded that Brussels approve the shipments.
The UK has sent vaccines to its overseas territories, including Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, but Australia is thought to be the only country to receive AstraZeneca jabs made in British factories.