Express & Star comment: The beginning of the end for Covid

As vaccines are rolled out, people who might have been susceptible to the disease can rest more easily.

They are out of the clutches of the pandemic. They can look forward to lives that are not cut short by an insidious disease unheard of 12 months ago. We must pay tribute to the remarkable scientists who laboured for long hours to deliver a fitting solution to Covid-19. Working around the clock and competing to provide the most secure and more efficacious vaccine, their work has been truly remarkable.

While politicians have sometimes misjudged the public mood or made questionable decisions, the scientific community has risen to the challenge.

We must be cautious, however, of not expecting too much too soon.

These are early days. The many millions of people in our nation who will require immunisation must be patient. Science has delivered, now it is up to manufacturing and those in the logistics industry, as well as health professionals, to deliver. We must not let down our guard as we wait in line for the jab. Nor must we relax and become less vigilant than the vast majority have been since March.

Social distancing, washing hands, respecting the space that each of us require – those key tenets – must remain in place until all are in the clear. It will be some time yet. The Government has a number of priorities and foremost among them are care homes.

Many will rejoice when loved ones have been immunised and when care homes can once more open to the public. The present vaccine is difficult to transport and the real breakthrough will come with the Astrazeneca vaccine, which can be more easily transported. That will enable the opening up mass vaccination and hopefully a spring of greater hope.

It is just around the corner and now is not the time to weaken our resolve in the face of a formidable challenge. Covid-19 has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the UK. We can start to look forward to a time when it is no longer such a potent threat.