Emmanuel Macron forced to extol its virtues after efficacy doubts and adverse publicity damped trust.

After battling with AstraZeneca over shipment delays, and even casting doubt over its Covid-19 jab’s efficacy, EU countries are seeing stocks of the company’s shots pile up — unused.

On Friday, France had administered 16% of the 1.1 million doses of the two-injection vaccine it received since the first delivery in early February, according to health ministry data. On Thursday, Germany had given a little over one-fifth of the 1.45 million doses, about the same proportion as Italy, which has received over a million doses. Spain has used just under a third of a total of 808,000 doses on Friday.

The situation has prompted several European leaders to talk up the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in recent days, with one French health ministry official even calling for a “collective rehabilitation campaign” to improve its reputation...