Covid 19 coronavirus: Italy blocks export of AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia 4 Mar, 2021 05:30 PM 4 minutes to read By: James Crisp Italy became the first country to impose an EU export ban on coronavirus vaccines on Thursday after blocking a shipment of 250,000 AstraZeneca jabs to Australia. Brussels introduced the export transparency regime during its row over supply shortfalls with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company at the end of January. Under the new rules, manufacturers in the EU must ask national authorities in the country of production and the European Commission for permissi...