Now that's most welcome news: Pfizer and BioNTech have announced success with their new Covid-19 vaccine, and are going ahead with its production. It works by introducing part of the virus's DNA into the human bloodstream with two successive injections. These stimulate an immune response that destroys infected blood cells, and attacks any fresh virus that comes along. It's had months of multi-national clinical trials on a total of 43,000-odd volunteers. Everyone seems happy with those trials. The vaccine is claimed to be 90% effective, although how long immunity will last is unknown.
This is clearly an important announcement. And the best part is that we in the UK have pre-ordered a great many doses, of which 10 million should arrive by the end of 2020, and 30 million more in 2021. Treatment will of course be prioritised on the basis of infection-risk. But it looks likely that sometime in the New Year people in my age group will get an invitation to be inoculated.
Which does raise an issue. What are the longer-term side-effects? Are there any? This has been rushed through, as indeed have all the other attempts to develop a vaccine. Would I really be wise to get inoculated at the earliest possible moment? Should I wait and see?
I could wait. It's easy for me to observe very effective social distancing, and I don't mind doing it until the safety of this vaccine, and the other vaccines still in development, is reasonably assured.
Of course so much depends on whether the vaccine can in fact be delivered quickly and in vast quantity, and then what the local inoculation programme will be like.
There will also be a strident global clamouring for doses, with many quite reasonable complaints being made that it's unfair for the rich nations - who have been able to pay for doses in advance - to get all the first batches. It's actually an important moral question, who should get the vaccine first.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that certain people of importance have already jumped the queue and got themselves a sneak dose, to assist their rapid recovery from infection and then to keep themselves healthy. Various names come to mind. But I'm especially looking at you, Mr Trump.
