"Didn't even try": EU lawyer accuses AstraZeneca of contract breach

Lawyers for the European Commission, Fanny Laune, Paul Alain Foriers, Charles-Edouard Lambert and Rafael Jafferali, arrive to attend a hearing at a Belgian court in the legal case against the AstraZeneca firm accused by the EU of having breached its contract for the supply of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, in Brussels, Belgium May 26, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A lawyer for the European Union accused AstraZeneca on Wednesday of not having even tried to respect its contract with the 27-nation bloc for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines and of failing to warn it in time of large cuts to deliveries.

The EU took the Anglo-Swedish firm to court in April afterthe drugmaker said it would aim to deliver only 100 milliondoses of its vaccine by the end of June, instead of the 300 million foreseen in the supply contract.