Like a mountaineer nearing the mountain’s peak, a long-distance swimmer metres away from their end point, a marathon runner close to the finish, a sportsperson close to their goal, and many others battling to overcome adversity, these last weeks before the Covid restrictions start to lift seem endless, and for many sow negative thoughts and feed doubt as to when it will all come to an end.
It will, and soon.
Vaccines, believed by many a year ago to be way off in the distance, are with us now, being injected, and proving to work, and that’s in just over a year since the first Covid case was diagnosed. With just 1% of the world vaccinated, a herculean effort by the WHO and world leaders and politicians is needed to immunise the entire planet. It will come. New vaccines will be approved, more doses will become available, non-vaxers will diminish, rich governments will help poorer countries, and tweaks of vaccines to counter virus mutations and variants will be developed, some already are. Covid-19 may not be entirely gone by the end of the year, but the world will look a whole lot different, and by that, I mean better. See excellent Guardian article by Pascal Soriot, CEO of Astra Zeneca: At Astra Zeneca, we know that until everyone is safe, no one is safe.
You may ask, why am I so optimistic?
There are many reasons. Here are the main three:
- Man’s instinct for self-survival. The virus – the most serious global health emergency of our lifetime – has shut the world down in ways we could never have imagined, and caused an economic downturn not seen since World War 11. Man will not tolerate such a catastrophe. Soon, if not already, world leaders will come together to find a way to immunise most of the world from Covid in record time – and find a joint economic way forward. It’ll be a plan of global reach on a global scale.
- Medical science, bathing in its success with the vaccines, will not stop there. More effective vaccines will be developed together with a massive increase in manufacturing capacity.
- Covid treatment. There weren’t any treatments for Covid a year ago. News presenters would often say in sombre tones, There is no known treatment. Now there are several – reducing symptoms and lessening the disease’s fatality rates. And there will be more, together with treatments for long-covid.
So, like most of us, I look forward to meeting up with family and friends again, eating out, going to a theatre, gallery, gig, having a haircut, and many other things we took for granted, but I’ll be patient.
We’ll beat this virus, normality will return, of that I’m sure.
~
My recent publications
Otto and Frankie, my latest novel, is about a dying man’s fight against injustice, his wife’s unusual affair, and the love from his long-lost daughter.
Otto and his daughter Frankie could not be more different. He’s rich, an acclaimed author, human rights activist, and lives in England. She lives in New York, just about survives from one pay cheque to the next and hasn’t seen or spoken to her father for twenty years. Dutifully reunited by his impending death, she’s amazed to find him a kind and noble man who, while grappling with his wife’s bizarre affair, champions for the world’s forgotten and dispossessed to his last. After Otto’s death, Frankie’s admiration for her father leads her into a dangerous and life changing pursuit.
Life in four stories
All proceeds go to the INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS (ICRC) to help the most vulnerable communities fight COVID – 19.
Four shorts: two about life, love, and death; one a poignant and disturbing memory that dangles a question unanswered; and one a wild fantasy – plus the first chapter of my latest book, Otto and Frankie.
By buying this book you are helping fund ICRC in its valuable work.
Thank you.
Nick Wastnage 