By Joleen Murphy
The European Commission has launched legal action against AstraZeneca.
It's over issues related to Covid vaccine deliveries to the trading block.
It's accused the firm behind coronavirus vaccines of failing to respect the terms of its contract with the EU.
Only 30 million doses were delivered between January and March.
Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakedes says the priority is to ensure vaccine deliveries take place to protect the health of Europeans.
For that reason the EU Commission decided with all member states to start legal proceedings against the company.
AstraZeneca says it "regrets" this decision but will "deliver almost 50-million" doses by May which it says is "in line" with its forecast.
Stefan De Keersmaecker's a commission spokesperson.
"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 the timely delivery of doses.
"We want to make sure that there is a speedy delivery of a sufficient number of doses that Europeans are entitled to."
