Irish Examiner view: Vaccine wars to stiffen rules

That the EU has responded to the AstraZeneca controversy by suggesting vaccines destined for Britain would be blocked within days suggests we have reached a dog-eat-dog moment.

There is a brief moment in the scene-setting stage of that 1964 cinema epic Zulu when 150 British soldiers defending Rorke's Drift station against 4,000 local warriors felt a frisson of hope. After repelling the first, high-casualty Zulu attacks they imagined they might easily prevail only to be disabused. "They are only testing your defences and checking your gun numbers and placements," said an experienced policeman.

It is tempting, though far too glib, to suggest that Brexit Britain is testing EU defences over a 60% reduction in contracted vaccine supplies from British plants producing the AstraZeneca vaccine. There are far, far more lives at stake. So too is the relationship between Britain and the EU, one already strained and bruised over the last number of years.