Vaccine shows the impossible is no such thing

Doctors and nurses told for years that there is no money have seen untold billions spent on equipment, staffing and instant hospitals.

Likewise, governments have been forced to bring the homeless in from the cold and pay the wages of millions unable to work because of lockdown.

Another impossible was the speedy development of a vaccine. It usually takes a decade or more. Doing it in a year or so was unimaginable.

In that light, yesterday’s news that a coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech is more than 90% effective and could be available within weeks is a startling piece of good news.

There is a long way to go yet but it would be churlish to see this as anything other than a blinding beam of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. After months of lockdown misery and border restrictions, people need all the positives they can get.

Stand fast, says the PM, and caution is wise. There are many questions remaining. The news from Pfizer came from an early look at just 94 infections found among the 44,000 people involved in the trial. That is far above the 50% protection rate the vaccine needs to be considered effective.

But will it stop asymptomatic infections and disease transmission just as well? Will it work in all age and ethnic groups? How quickly can it be manufactured and distributed? Who will get it first?

And, above all, how long will the vaccine be effective for?

Those questions needs answering before celebrations can begin in earnest.

But it is clear from both this vaccine and others on the cusp of release that when the human race stops squabbling and focuses its efforts and resources on a problem the impossible is just a hurdle waiting to be cleared.

If only the same determined, well-resourced, and concerted approach could be undertaken internationally to address other issues left for too long in the too difficult pile, such as climate change, cancers, food poverty, clean water and energy sustainability.