The European Commission is unlikely to renew its order of AstraZeneca vaccines when it expires this summer, amid legal disputes over supply issues and a pivot towards the Pfizer jab.

“We haven’t renewed the contract beyond the month of June,” Thierry Breton, the European internal market commissioner, told French radio. “Whether we do remains to be seen.”

This did not necessarily mean the end of the EU’s dealings with the British-Swedish firm, he added. “It’s not done. Wait and see.”

“There may be a little extra cost but I will let the competent authorities unveil it in due course,” he said.

The EU originally wanted to use the AstraZeneca jab as the main driver of its vaccination campaign and could have triggered a clause for an additional 100 million doses.

But the move away from the vaccine is not unexpected given the fraught relations between the EU and the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company in recent months.

Last month, the commission launched legal action against AstraZeneca for not respecting its contract for the supply of Covid-19 vaccines and for not having a “reliable” plan to ensure timely deliveries. It accused AstraZeneca of being able to deliver only a third of the 300 million doses it had promised by June.

Public confidence in the AstraZeneca jab has also taken a hammering over concerns that in a few rare cases it can cause blood clots in the brain.

Some EU countries have restricted its use to older people despite the bloc’s medicines agency insisting the benefits of the jab outweighed the risks.

The EU now intends to use the more expensive Pfizer-BioNTech jab for the bulk of its vaccination programme.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the commission, has signalled a preference for mRNA  vaccines such as the one made by Pfizer, which work differently from the AstraZeneca jab.

On Saturday, the commission agreed to a substantial contract extension that allows for a potential 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine between now and 2023.