April 21st, local time, political news website Politico quoted several EU diplomats as saying that the European Commission was preparing to file a lawsuit against astraZeneca, the vaccine maker, with the aim of forcing it to deliver enough Coronavirus vaccines to EU countries under contract.
According to reports, the European Commission at the 21st meeting of EU ambassadors to put forward the plan, by the majority of ambassadors support. The European Commission may have set a deadline this week beyond which member states will be required to authorize legal proceedings against AstraZeneca.
In the first quarter of this year, the EU received less than 30m doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca, just 40 per cent of the promised delivery. In the second quarter, AstraZeneca’s delivery may still be more than 60% lower than expected, which directly led to further strengthening of eu controls on vaccine exports.