Things started to get really ugly in late January when drug company AstraZeneca announced that it was cutting its initial delivery of its recently EU-approved vaccine to the EU to 31 million doses by the end of March from 80 million due to manufacturing delays in one of its European plants, and was accused by the EU of breach of contract. Making things worse, the U.K., where AstraZeneca is based, and where the vaccine has been approved since the end of December, has two factories operating at full capacity and will face no shortfalls. AstraZeneca has refused to divert vaccines produced in the U.K. to the continent, which has provoked the ire of EU officials who say Britain has no inherent right to vaccines produced on its soil. All this comes on top of news that Pfizer is also facing delays at its European plants.