According to five EU diplomats, the European Commission is preparing to initiate legal proceedings against vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca.
The Commission raised the issue on Wednesday at an ambassadors’ meeting, during which most EU countries said they would support suing the company over complaints that it was massively unable to deliver promised doses to the bloc.
A diplomat clarified that the point of the legal process is to require AstraZeneca to provide the doses stipulated in its EU contract.
Two of the diplomats said there was a deadline later this week for EU countries to sign to initiate legal proceedings.
AstraZeneca sparked anger from the EU in January when it said it would not be able to provide the block with the number of doses initially expected. By the end of the first quarter, the company was delivering 30 million doses to EU countries, instead of the 100 million doses promised in the EU contract. The shortages have seriously hampered vaccination campaigns in EU countries.
The company has predicted it would deliver about 70 million doses by the end of the second quarter of the year, while delivering the full 300 million doses stipulated in the EU contract.
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