Coronavirus vaccine maker AstraZeneca committed a ‘serious breach’ of its contract with the European Union, a court has ruled.

But the EU’s request for the pharmaceutical giant to supply 120million doses by the end of the month was rejected.

Instead, it was ordered to deliver a total of 80.2million doses by September 27. The British-Swedish company should meet this with ease, having already shipped 70million jabs to the continent.

The dispute centres over an accusation of AstraZeneca acting in bad faith by prioritising the delivery of shots to other countries, notably the UK.

The Belgian court ruled the company did not make a ‘best reasonable effort’ to meet its delivery schedule because it had not used its UK production sites for the order.

But AstraZeneca said the sites were primarily meant to be used to service its contract with the British government.

The drugmaker welcomed the court’s acknowledgement that it was under unprecedented pressure.

Executive vice-president Jeffrey Pott said: ‘We are pleased with the court’s order.

‘We will continue to focus on the urgent task of supplying an effective vaccine, which we are delivering at no profit to help protect people in Europe and around the world from the deadliest pandemic in a generation.’

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine gained a patchy reputation among EU states after leaders expressed scepticism.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it was ‘almost ineffective’ for the elderly before saying he would have a jab if offered. Yet it remains a key pillar of the EU’s vaccine rollout.

Its contract with the European Commission foresaw an initial 300million doses being distributed, with an option for another 100million, before issues with the speed of delivery arose.

The commission still recommends the company’s shots as effective protection against the coronavirus.

President Ursula von der Leyen said: ‘This decision confirms the position of the commission: AstraZeneca did not live up to the commitments it made in the contract. It is good to see that an independent judge confirms this.

‘This shows that our European vaccination campaign not only delivers for our citizens day by day. It also demonstrates that it was founded on a sound legal basis.’

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