V-Day is a step forward, but the journey goes on

People desperate for signs that the world is about to turn the corner cheered as 90-year-old Margaret Keenan became the first to be vaccinated.

Naturally, there is impatience everywhere from people hoping the jab will rapidly put an end to the health and economic disaster wrought by Covid-19.

Public details are as yet scarce but Guernsey’s turn will come soon and it was heartening to see pictures of Jersey unpacking its first icy batch of 1,000 doses.

Jersey has been climbing the international Covid charts with alarming speed, with each day bringing scores of new cases, more people in hospital and almost 4,000 direct contacts required to isolate.

The island has taken a different course to Guernsey with what appears an impossibly difficult balancing act of health and finance.

It was important for everyone yesterday to take all the welcome positives out of V-Day. In grim times they are gulps of fresh air.

However, that transitory sense of euphoria must be accompanied by a sober reminder that this is far from over.

The vaccine will take months to administer. Even those vaccinated yesterday will have to wait three weeks before getting the second dose and with it 95% assurance they will not succumb to the disease.

As with so much of the response to this pandemic, this is not about today so much as tomorrow. A little time waiting now can easily be caught up with a steady supply and good distribution.

Keeping this Bailiwick (almost) free of Covid-19 will help health professionals to concentrate on the task and ease the process of distribution.

Each day that passes then will be a step towards a brighter future.

As the weeks of inoculation go on and the cheer of V-Day disappears into the past, the pressure on the Civil Contingenies Authority to abandon the values of patience and care that brought the island through the pandemic so successfully will rise.

Those last steps must be taken with care.