It is horrifying that there is so much as doubt about future unfettered Northern Ireland access to UK vaccines

One of the best aspects of the UK response to Covid has been the rollout of the vaccines.

Britain was able to order doses more quickly than the EU because it approved them earlier.

But that was not the only element in the rapid response: UK universities and scientists were at the forefront of developing this crucial medication.

That is hardly a surprise: Britain has around 15 to 20 of the top 100 universities in the world (depending on the list), yet the UK is a mere 1% of the global population. The nation is a global leader in science.

Northern Ireland being in the UK has meant that the population has received vaccines far faster than the Republic of Ireland has done.

As with the very generous Treasury furlough scheme, access to UK health-care is a tangible benefit of being part of the UK.

It is extraordinary to learn that the EU could ban some medications from next year due to our half-in, half-out relationship with the EU.

This would be a scandal every bit as serious as the UK not being able to move military equipment from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without notifying the EU, as the Ministry of Defence itself thought (before finding that it had no such requirement).

It is unclear what the position is with medication at the end of the grace period because when we asked the Department of Health as to whether it will be able to disregard EU rules on licensing medications next year, it did not respond to that part of our queries to them on the wider matter.

But Jim Allister QC, who is mostly right about such details, says that NI will have to follow EU policies on vaccines after the grace period.

The Northern Ireland Protocol is an affront to the Belfast Agreement and to territorial integrity of the UK. There can be no talk about it creating a ‘best of both worlds’.

It must go.

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