ROME - Italy has blocked the shipment of 250,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine to Australia, according to diplomatic sources, making use of the new rules introduced by the EU to block the export of the vaccine to countries outside the EU.

  Italian government officials reported this decision to Brussels at the end of last week, who did not object.

  During last week’s EU Council, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi also insisted on the stricter imposition of controls on exports of the vaccine.

   These new rules were put in place by the EU after AstraZeneca admitted that they had failed to reach the delivery targets to the EU. This announcement from the pharmaceutical company had raised suspicion that one portion of the vaccines intended for the EU had been redirected to other countries. 

  Of the 170 requests for shipments of vaccines to outside the EU, this is the first time an export has been blocked. However, some political commentators have noted that this move is perhaps more symbolic than anything else as the number of vaccines blocked is minute compared to the total number of doses the company is selling to the EU and around the world.

   Italy is taking these steps in light of the latest pandemic statistics that suggest a third wave is under way throughout the country. Bologna has moved to a red zone after recording 562 new infections on Thursday, the highest in the region since the start of the pandemic, and Lombardy has moved to dark orange, due to rapidly increasing prevalence of the English variant. The last few days has seen Italy register over 20,000 new cases every day, and over 300 deaths a day.

  The Italian Foreign Ministry has also said this decision was made because of a scarcity of the vaccine in Italy and the EU, and added that Australia is considered a "non-vulnerable country."  An official of the Italian government told the Financial Times that decisions to allow or block exportation of the vaccine are not made unilaterally, and that there was involvement by the European Commission.

  Australian government officials asked the EU to review the decision. The Health Minister, Greg Hunt, told reporters, "Australia has raised the issue with the European Commission through multiple channels."

  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said he understand's Italy's "high level of anxiety" given the state of Italy's coronavirus sitatuation, but that "contracts must be honoured."

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