Hunt said Australia had already received 300,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, which would last until local production of the vaccine ramps up.

Australia began its inoculation programme two weeks ago, vaccinating frontline health staff and senior citizens with Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine though doses of that shot are limited amid tight global supplies.

01:27

First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

First Covax delivery completed as Ghana receives 600,000 doses of vaccine under WHO-led scheme

AstraZeneca did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

While seeking the European Commission’s intervention, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he could understand reasons for Italy’s objection.

“In Italy, people are dying at the rate of 300 a day. And so I can certainly understand the high level of anxiety that would exist in Italy and in many countries across Europe. They are in an unbridled crisis situation. That is not the situation in Australia,” he said.

“This particular shipment was not one we’d counted on for the roll-out, and so we will continue unabated.”

Australia’s chief medical officer, Paul Kelly, also offered solidarity: “My sister lives in Italy. They’re at the moment having 18,000 cases a day.”

Italy’s move came just days after Prime Minister Mario Draghi told fellow EU leaders that the bloc needed to speed up vaccinations and crack down on pharmaceutical companies that failed to deliver on promised supplies.

EU countries started inoculations at the end of December, but are moving at a far slower pace than many other nations, with officials blaming the slow progress in part on supply problems with key manufacturers.

South Korea investigates deaths of two who received Covid-19 vaccine

Officials on Friday administered the first AstraZeneca vaccine to a doctor in South Australia state.

Australia has ordered 53.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford. Local pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd has secured the rights to manufacture 50 million of those doses in Australia.

Those doses will provide the backbone of Australia’s inoculation programme, which it hopes to complete by October.

Australia is under less pressure than many other countries, having recorded just under 29,000 Covid-19 cases and 909 deaths. The lower infection and death tallies have been helped by strict lockdowns, speedy tracking systems and border closures.

03:05

China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

China-made coronavirus vaccines widely distributed despite efficacy concerns

Brazil has the world’s second-highest death toll over the past year, after the US.

“Enough fussing and whining. How much longer will the crying go on?” Bolsonaro told a crowd at an event. “How much longer will you stay at home and close everything? No one can stand it any more. We regret the deaths, again, but we need a solution.”

The Health Ministry registered 75,102 additional cases of coronavirus on Thursday, the most in a single day since July and the second-highest on record. Brazil also recorded 1,699 fatalities, decreasing slightly from the previous two days of record deaths.

Signs of weaker vaccine response to new strains in South Africa, Brazil

Brazil’s surging second wave has triggered new restrictions in its capital, Brasilia, and its largest city, Sao Paulo. Tourist mecca Rio de Janeiro on Thursday announced a citywide curfew and early closing time for restaurants.

The federal government has been slow to purchase and distribute vaccines, with less than 3.5 per cent of the population having got one shot.

The government is working to obtain additional vaccines from more suppliers. The Health Ministry is negotiating to buy 2 million additional Pfizer doses by May, 16.9 million Janssen doses by September and 63 million doses of the Moderna vaccine by January 2020, according to documents reviewed by Reuters on Thursday.

Particularly worrying to health authorities is the emergence of a new coronavirus variant from the Amazon region that appears more contagious and more able to reinfect those who have already had Covid-19.

Trumps were vaccinated in January before leaving White House

Government-affiliated medical institute Fiocruz said that it has detected the Amazon, United Kingdom and South African variants spreading in various places across the country.

“We are experiencing the worst outlook for the pandemic since it started,” said Gonzalo Vecina Neto, a medical doctor and former head of Brazilian health regulator Anvisa.

“Mutations are the result of the increased reproduction of the virus. The greater the number of viruses, the faster the transmission, the more mutations we have,” he said.

Elsewhere, the US recorded fewer than 40,000 new cases of Covid-19 in one day for the first time in five months on Thursday, according to the Johns Hopkins University pandemic tracker.

This number peaked at nearly 300,000 new cases on January 8 in the country hardest hit by the pandemic, with more than half a million fatalities.

But now it is back down to the levels of before Thanksgiving and Christmas, when holiday travel and gatherings in defiance of safety warnings were blamed for spreading the virus further in the US.

Another encouraging sign as the US presses on with its vaccination drive is that daily deaths and hospitalisation from Covid-19 are also way down.

Three vaccines are currently being administered in the country and the Biden administration says the campaign to jab 100 million people in his first 100 days in office is ahead of schedule.

The number people vaccinated is now close to surpassing the number of cases detected in the US since the pandemic began a year ago.

Additional reporting by Reuters, Agence France-Presse