Covid-19 vaccines and the long road ahead to normalcy

While the exuberance about vaccines is understandable, a full return to pre-pandemic conditions will require much more work to be done, including establishing national and global frameworks and infrastructure for recording and verifying who has received an accredited vaccine.

Dr Steve Brandwene receiving a Pfizer-BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine at the Research Centers of America in Hollywood, on Dec 18, 2020. PHOTO: AFP
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In the past four weeks, the world greeted the continual positive findings from several late-stage Covid-19 vaccine trials with loud cheers. Global stock markets rallied, and the surge in share prices of aviation and tourism counters revealed the widespread optimism of the world about a return to pre-Covid-19 normalcy.

This enthusiasm is reinforced whenever governments worldwide announce their plans to procure and deliver the vaccines, regardless of the important caveat to prioritise limited vaccine doses for front-line workers and high-risk groups before mass distribution to the rest of the population is possible.

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