But the Morrison Government insists it won’t affect the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine in Australia.A spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said: “This is one shipment from one country”. “The AstraZeneca Roll out begins today in Murray Bridge South Australia,” Hunt’s spokesman said.“The first International shipment already arrived which takes us through to the commencement of domestic CSL supplies. “This shipment was not factored into our distribution plan for coming weeks.”CSL’s Australian manufacturing would deliver one million doses per week by the end of the month, Mr Hunt’s office said.Meantime, the drastic move from Italy came as it and most of Europe is still struggling with a major shortage of vaccines following a disastrous procurement process. The European Union voted to buy all vaccines as a bloc, but bet heavily on French vaccines that failed. Italy has vaccinated just under 5 million of its 60 million people, but has been struggling with delays in supplies from AstraZeneca following problems at its Belgian plant.Now, Italian officials have taken the drastic move of banning supplies leaving Europe.The London Financial Times reported on Thursday afternoon local time that Italy had become the first country to ban exports of vaccines under new rules that were introduced to hoard medical supplies.The European Commission had the power to veto Italy’s ban, but Brussels officials allowed the shipment to be stopped.Ursula von der Leyen, the boss of the European Union’s vaccine rollout, had warned last week that EU countries would block exports if AstraZeneca did not increase supplies.“If companies don’t fulfil their contractual obligations, yet do export, the commission may decide to make a move under the export regimen,” she said.The vaccine roll out in Europe has been an embarrassment, with Britain streets ahead in its vaccination program with more than 20 million doses delivered.British politicians have claimed that they were able to supercharge the vaccine program because they were free of EU rules after Brexit.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been quiet on the amount of Oxford and Pfizer vaccinations stockpiled for the UK’s use.However, there were plans to scale up to 5 million doses per week, double the current rate of the program, in the coming weeks. Comment was being sought from the Australian Government.International Vaccine EffortsGERMANY APPROVES ASTRAZENECA VACCINEGermany’s vaccine commission has now recommended the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine for people over the age of 65, the health ministry said Thursday, local time.“The vaccine commission now recommends the AstraZeneca vaccine for people over 65 as well. This is good news for older people who are waiting for a jab,” said Health Minister Jens Spahn.Germany had previously said it lacked sufficient data to green light the vaccine for older people, but has changed its position following recent studies.“The new data also shows that the vaccine is even more effective when the first and second jabs are administered 12 weeks apart,” said Mr Spahn.He added that Germany’s vaccine law would soon be changed to reflect the new recommendations.Thursday’s announcement came after Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the commission would be changing their position on the AstraZeneca jab.The German government had been criticised in recent weeks for muddled communications about the AstraZeneca jab, leading to a public perception that the vaccine was less effective than those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.Some of the Germans first in line for a COVID-19 jab have spurned the AstraZeneca offer, leaving the country with hundreds of thousands of unopened doses.Greenlighting the jab for the oldest age groups is expected to help Germany work through the backlog and pick up the pace of its sluggish vaccine rollout.It comes as German group CureVac said on Thursday it has signed a deal with Novartis for the Swiss pharmaceutical giant to help in its production of the COVID-19 vaccine it is developing.The Swiss giant will make up to 50 million doses of Curevac’s mRNA vaccine by the end of 2021 and up to 200 million doses in 2022, said the German company.Swedish health authorities on Thursday also recommended AstraZeneca’s vaccine for people over the age of 65, and other EU nations are expected to follow.EU OPENS TO RUSSIAN JABS AS BLOC TRIES TO STOP SURGE Russian coronavirus shots could soon be doled out across Europe after the EU said on Thursday it was assessing the vaccine, while countries worldwide struggled to hold off another infection surge before inoculations become widespread.With frustration over restrictions having long weighed on populations across the globe, leaders were seeking to balance demands for easing rules while not unleashing another explosion in cases.With the European Union facing heavy criticism over delays in its campaign, its drug watchdog said it had started a “rolling review” of the Sputnik V shot.Russia responded by saying it could supply doses for 50 million Europeans starting from June as the 27-nation bloc pledged to inoculate all those in need by the end of the Northern summer.The EU has already approved three vaccines, but some members have gone it alone, approving jabs from Russia and China unilaterally after criticising delays.The need for a wide vaccine rollout was underscored on Thursday when the World Health Organisation’s European branch warned that infections had once again begun to rise in the region.“This ends a promising six-week decline in new cases,” said Hans Kluge. Hungary is among the European nations suffering a surge in infections and deaths, and the government said Thursday it will tighten its lockdown.Ukraine also warned of a new national lockdown.Europe’s vaccine policy remains chaotic and rancorous, with new rows brewing even as old ones are laid to rest.France has waded into an argument with Austria and Denmark, who are bypassing the EU to broker a vaccine deal directly with Israel.UK TO FAST TRACK MODIFIED VACCINESModified vaccines designed to protect against emerging coronavirus variants will get fast-track approval under a pact announced on Thursday by medicines regulators in Britain and four other countries.The agreement will avert the need for lengthy clinical studies if authorised vaccines are adapted in future, as long as the manufacturers offer “robust evidence” of their potency and safety, according to the agreement by the ACCESS Consortium.The consortium comprises Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and counterparts from Australia, Canada, Singapore and Switzerland.“Our priority is to get effective vaccines to the public in as short a time as possible, without compromising on safety,” MHRA chief scientific officer Christian Schneider said in a statement.“Should any modifications to authorised COVID-19 vaccines be necessary, this regulatory approach should help to do just that.“The public should be confident that no vaccine would be approved unless the expected high standards of safety, quality and effectiveness are met.” The approach is based on the “tried and tested” regulatory process used for seasonal influenza vaccines, which need to be adapted every year to combat new strains, the MHRA said.Britain began rolling out the world’s first mass vaccination program for coronavirus in December. But health experts are concerned that new variants of the disease, including one from Brazil, could prove more resistant to the vaccines.That would undermine plans by Britain and others to start unwinding lockdowns in the coming weeks, which hinge on the vaccines giving enough people protection and bringing down a winter surge in infections and deaths.More than 123,000 people have died of COVID-19 across the UK, in one of the world’s worst outbreaks.US LIFTS VIRUS RESTRICTIONS IN ‘INEXPLICABLE’ MOVEEpidemiologist Michael Osterholm said he is concerned about the spread of highly-transmissible variants, especially as US states ease restrictions. “Expect in the next two to three weeks we’re going to see a number of areas in this country, I think, that will follow exactly what we’ve seen in Europe and the Middle East,” he told CNN. “We’re going to see a surge in cases. And everything that the governors are doing right now to relax all the public health recommendations that we’ve made are only going to be a major invitation of this virus to spread faster and farther,” said Mr Osterholm, director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.Texas and Mississippi governors announced they are lifting mask mandates and fully opening businesses.Mr Osterholm said that the number of people currently vaccinated and those previously infected who have immunity add up to only about 35 per cent of the population. “What is going to happen? None of us can say with certainty other than to say it’s not going to be good,” he said. The decision to rollback measures is “inexplicable,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.“I understand the need to want to get back to normality, but you’re only going to set yourself back if you just completely push aside the public health guidelines, particularly when we’re dealing with anywhere from 55-70,000 infections per day in the United States,” Dr Fauci told CNN.DUTCH COVID TESTING CENTRE HIT IN BOMB ATTACKA suspected pipe bomb hit a Dutch coronavirus testing centre on Wednesday, local time, shattering windows but causing no injuries in what officials branded a “cowardly act of destruction”.The blast early in the morning in Bovenkarspel, 60 kilometres north of the capital Amsterdam, apparently targeted health workers, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.The incident comes weeks after another testing centre was burned down during violent riots across the Netherlands against a coronavirus curfew.“Police were called at 6.55am by a security guard from the corona test centre to say that an explosion had taken place. He had heard a loud bang and then saw that several windows of the building had broken,” a police statement said.“Outside the building was a metal cylinder that had exploded. No one was injured in the incident.” North Holland police spokesman Menno Hartenberg said the explosion appeared to be deliberate but that the motive was still being investigated.“It’s not possible that this was by accident, the object was placed there and exploded near the front of the test centre,” Mr Hartenberg told AFP by telephone.He added: “It was a metal object somewhere between a tube and a canister.” Police forensics officers in white overalls were conducting a fingertip search of the area, which was cordoned off, an AFP journalist at the scene said.The explosion caused shock in the Netherlands, which goes to the polls in two weeks in a general election seen as a test of the government’s coronavirus policies.Prime Minister Mark Rutte said workers at the centre who “work terribly hard to keep us safe” appeared to be the targets, adding that it was “really terrible, really scandalous”, according to the ANP news agency.“For over a year now, we have relied heavily on the people on the front lines. And then this. Insane,” added health minister Hugo de Jonge on Twitter.The Dutch GGD public health department said it was “horrified” by the “aggressive and intimidating vandalism.” “Our people must be able to do this crucial work safely. This cowardly act of destruction affects us all,” GGD national president Andre Rouvoet said on Twitter.A bomb squad was sent to determine whether any explosive material remained at the scene, public television network NOS reported.The part of the Netherlands in which Bovenkarspel is located is currently suffering one of the country’s most serious outbreaks, with 81 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a national average of 27.2, NOS said.The Netherlands has recorded more than one million coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic and over 15,000 deaths.— With Merryn Johns and AFP
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