Massive mess up by the Commission but these headlines are really misleading.
Makes it seem like EU wanted to block the North's vaccines.
They actually - clumsily - tried to protect vaccines destined for NI, while preventing it being a backdoor for exports to Britain. https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1355224381115523077

I see it's in Irish media as well, and all kinds of prestigious titles. It doesn't even make sense. There's generally three people max reporting on EU institutions for Irish publications. It feels like the mass of British-slanted stuff in English just drowns us out.

On a delicate area, let's turn down the heat and stick to facts.
What was the Commission regulation?
- requirement for companies to notify EU govts of vaccine exports (what, to where, etc)
- EU Commission would recommend whether to issue export permit; govt ultimately decides.

See how you can frighten people. Stephen, if you take a look at this thread here, no one threatened checks on the border or anything like that - which anyway the Commission couldn't impose - it was about continental governments issuing export permits https://twitter.com/StephenEmmetCl1/status/1355289299160342532?s=19