EU looks to sue AZ over shortfall

BRUSSELS: The European Commission is looking to launch legal action against AstraZeneca for underdelivering Covid-19 vaccine doses to the EU, hobbling the bloc’s early rollout of jabs, diplomats said Thursday.

The EU executive informed member state envoys of its plans on Wednesday, the diplomats told AFP, confirming information first published by the Politico website. They said any lawsuit against AstraZeneca would begin in a Belgian court -- the jurisdiction agreed under the commission’s contract with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company.

A Commission spokesman, Eric Mamer, told journalists that “no decision has yet been taken”.