The vaccine bust up between Britain and the EU is a lose-lose situation – but is it a sign of things to come?

Viruses don’t respect either ideology or national borders but the sabres are rattling as if they do. The politics are bad but given the way Britain has poisoned relations with the EU that’s not surprising, writes James Moore

The dispute over supplies is dangerous  (AP)

Oh dear. Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the EU held talks, over the supply snafus that have led to shortages of stocks of its vaccine on the continent, which were described as “constructive” with language such as “working together to resolve issues” being used.

But a vaccine-deprived EU has nonetheless put in place a mechanism that would allow exports from members states to be restricted, which could affect supplies of the alternative Pfizer vaccine, the UK supplies of which are made in Belgium. 

There are a lot of politics at work here, mostly bad politics. We’re used to the EU behaving as the grown up, but for once that mightn’t be the case.