British pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca said on Friday that its COVID vaccine generated $275 million (€227m) in sales in the first quarter, as its chief executive defended performance in the face of EU legal action. It is the first time that the company has disclosed figures from sales of one of the world’s leading vaccines, which it sells at cost. The company has delivered about 68 million doses of the vaccine, which was developed with the University of Oxford and has been instrumental in Britain’s rapid vaccination drive. However, public confidence in the jab has been dented over links to very rare blood clots, and the company is also mired in a legal fight with the EU over delivery shortfalls. ‘Did our very best’ “I don’t think we ever overpromised... more than we thought we could deliver,” chief executive Pascal Soriot told reporters on Friday, insisting there were no regrets. “What we communicated at the time was based on the capacity that we had put together.” Soriot noted that AstraZeneca was the second largest supplier to the EU after US firm Pfizer. The bulk of AstraZeneca’s jab sales during the first quarter – $224 million worth – were in Europe, the company said. A...