Khushi
The European Union has initiated a legal proceeding against Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca for breaching COVID-19 vaccine supply contract.
The decision was taken after the company repeatedly cut supplies to the 27-nation bloc, contributing to major delays in Europe’s vaccine rollout, which has lagged those in Britain and the United States.
AstraZeneca earlier released a statement that it would be able to deliver only a third of the 300 million doses that European officials had been expecting by the end of June. A week later, Brussels sent a legal letter to AstraZeneca for commencement of potential court proceedings.
“The Commission has started last Friday a legal action against AstraZeneca,” the EU spokesman said.
“Some terms of the contract have not been respected and the company has not been in a position to come up with a reliable strategy to ensure timely delivery of doses,” the spokesman further explained.
AstraZeneca says that the legal action by the EU was without merit and pledged to defend itself strongly in court.
A first hearing in the case will be held at the Brussels Court of First Instance on Wednesday.