EU legal case against AstraZeneca begins in Brussels court

The case in the Brussels court is the latest twist in an often bad-humoured EU dispute with the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker, and at times with Britain. The bloc accuses the company of failure to respect its contract.

With the pandemic still raging across the continent, the AstraZeneca vaccine was seen as a central part of Europe's immunisation campaign and a way to send coronavirus jabs to poorer countries because of its easier storage requirements.

But cuts and delays in AstraZeneca deliveries have weighed on the choppy inoculation campaign in the EU, which trails behind Britain, the United States or Israel on vaccination.