Italian police find ‘millions’ of vaccines in factory raid amid fears AstraZeneca jabs being hidden

Police say the raids took place over the weekend

A medical worker fills a syringe from a vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 on March 24, 2021 at a vaccination hub outside Rome's Termini railway station (AFP via Getty Images)

Italian police have raided a pharmaceuticals plant outside Rome in a search for AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccines, as a tussle between the EU and UK over shortfalls in deliveries continues.

Carabinieri toldThe Independent that specialist food and pharmaceutical officers were involved in the raid at the Catalent fill-and-finish plant in Anagni.

The raids took place over the weekend, an Italian government official said.

“On Saturday, the European Commission asked the prime minister to verify some batches of vaccine at a production plant at Anagni. The prime minister informed the health minister, who ordered an inspection between Saturday and Sunday, carried out by the carabinieri.

“The batches that were inspected were destined for Belgium,” said the official.

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Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that as many as 29 million doses of the vaccine were found at the plant, though this number could not be verified. 

That would represent almost double the 16 million doses so far delivered to the European Union by the drug company and which are now the subject of heated negotiations between Brussels and the UK.  

AstraZeneca has been under fire from the European Commission over missed delivery targets for weeks.

The doses were likely to have been manufactured at the Halix plant in Leiden, in the Netherlands, Italian media reports said. Halix is still awaiting approval by the European Medicines Agency, but approval could come as soon as this week.

EU sources told La Stampa that the vaccines were destined for the UK but had been blocked by Italy following the introduction last month of new rules on vaccine exports.

People coming to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, wait in line on March 24, 2021 prior to enter a vaccination hub set up outside Rome's Termini railway station (AFP via Getty Images)

Italy was unaware of the existences of the doses, until the EU commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, decided to investigate the destination of doses produced at the Dutch factory and tipped off Italian police about the plant, according to La Stampa.

Italy’s ministry of health said it was investigating the incident.

On Wednesday, the European Commission unveiled new rules that could block vaccine exports to countries judged to need doses less than the EU – either because of lower rates of the virus or ample domestic supply.

The European Commission vice-president, Valdis Dombrovskis, said the continent was facing a “very serious epidemiological situation” and declined to rule out the UK being hit by new restrictions.

AstraZeneca said that most of the 29 million doses in the Catalent plant were for EU countries, and the rest were for poorer countries supplied by the COVAX scheme co-led by the World Health Organization.

"There are no exports currently planned other than to COVAX countries. There are 13 million doses of vaccine waiting for quality control release to be dispatched to COVAX," the company told The Independent.

The remaining 16 million will be shipped to Europe this month and in April, after quality control approval, it added.

Catalent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.