Rome’s order blocking the dispatch of 250,000 doses, in the first such export ban under an EU vaccine monitoring scheme, was accepted by the European Commission, an EC source said on Thursday.

The EC has slammed the Anglo-Swedish company this year for supplying just a fraction of the vaccine doses it had promised to deliver to the bloc.

The doses came from a plant in Italy operated by AstraZeneca to produce some of its vaccine, one of three authorised for use in the EU alongside the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna versions.

Under the commission’s “transparency and authorisation mechanism” EU member states vet planned exports out of the bloc of authorised COVID-19 vaccines.

The scheme started on January 30 and is to run until at least the end of March.

That period corresponds to a sharp shortfall in the first three months of this year of deliveries the EU had been counting on to kickstart its vaccine rollout.

Most of the shortfall is because AstraZeneca has pledged “best reasonable efforts” to deliver around 100 million doses in that time, but is now on track to supply just 40 per cent of that.

The Italian government’s move is unprecedented in Europe.

Italy’s foreign ministry said the decision to deny the shipment was made because Australia was “not vulnerable” due to the low number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and the shortage of vaccines in Italy and the EU.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told Channel Nine the decision to block the doses would not affect Australia’s vaccine rollout.

“There is great prudence in us sourcing a number of vaccines but also starting domestic production as well,” he said.

“It’s only a few weeks away before a million doses a week will be rolled out.

“This 250,000 dose issue is not going to affect the rollout.”

Dutton said he would leave it to Australian diplomats to speak with their counterparts in Europe about removing the block.

Australia has secured 53.8 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, 3.8 million of which will be manufactured overseas.

The remaining 50 million doses will be made in Australia in monthly doses by medical giant CSL.

Meanwhile, the seized lot of doses will be redistributed within the EU.

After becoming prime minister last month, Mario Draghi unveiled a new plan for Italy to administer 56 million vaccine doses by June.

The country has vaccinated 4.6 million people so far, with 1.5 million receiving both doses.