BERLIN, March 5 (Reuters) - German Health Minister Jens
Spahn said on Friday that drug manufacturers must honour vaccine
supply contracts to Europe, but said Germany had not yet had any
reason to stop shipments of shots produced domestically to other
countries.
Spahn told a weekly news conference he had not yet been able
to speak to his Italian counterpart about a decision by Italy to
block a shipment of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine to
Australia.
"As of today, we have not had the reason not to authorise
the delivery of vaccines to other parts of the world," Spahn
said, adding he would always want to coordinate any approach at
a European level.
AstraZeneca's vaccine is not produced in Germany, but some
of the final product is bottled by IDT Biologika.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley
Editing by Riham Alkousaa)