Vaccine or no vaccine - that is the question why?

 Vaccine or no vaccine- that is the question why.

So let's get this one straight. The highly probable or miraculously improbable Covid 19 vaccine could be on its way depending on your degree of optimism. Now just how far have we come during the last seven months or so? Do we listen to the experts and medical aficionados or do we dismiss all the rumours and speculation with the proverbial pinch of salt? Will this emotional roller coaster ever come to an end or do we have to endure another round of intensive and ultra scientific discussion about something we have no control over, hoping against hope that by tomorrow morning it won't be there anymore. 

There has been so much guesswork and conjecture about the coronavirus for almost the whole of the year that some of us are almost conditioned to expect the worst. The trouble is that pessimism becomes so deeply ingrained in our souls that it's hard to get rid of it. Now though we're entering the realms of the truly bizarre although you may have found yourself thinking along the same lines in May or June.

We must have thought that a genuine corner had been turned when the pub saloon doors were flung open back in who knows when now. But then we discovered that even when the restaurants followed suit with their resumption of trade everything would be coming up roses and tickety boo. Then we were reliably informed that we could go back to the cinema to see our favourite movies and finally both the gyms and leisure centres would also be open for business again. How wrong and misled were we?

We were told that the numbers of Covid 19 fatalities were dramatically dwindling and that soon we could all renew acquaintance with humanity again. Yippee! Sadly we are back at the drawing board again stuck at square one and totally perplexed. Of course we'll get this disease and wipe it from existence shortly by next month at the latest - or perhaps next week, let's say next decade, even next year. It's a hard one to call. Some of us are making room for next Tuesday afternoon or just after the BBC 10 o'clock news tonight. It's time for a little honesty here. None of us know and it's probably just as well that we don't because the plot keeps thickening and the circle is increasingly dizzying. 

Yesterday at coronavirus headquarters the latest instalment told us nothing that we didn't know already. In fact it may have been a recorded version of the previous day's news agenda such was the repetitive nature of the headlines. We are still running our hand through our hair and every so often we're lifted from our seats with something that could be construed as much better news or the possibility of something good which is neither here or there. Still, we've got plenty of time and we're not going anywhere so when you're ready. 

There are so many conflicting reports that they may just well be completely contradictory and who cares about the gravity or severity of the virus because we already know how many people have been traumatically killed as a result of Covid 19. Every day the figures make for utterly distressing reading and the percentages are beginning to get on our nerves. We are now in second spike country and families are now living in different time zones. Some of us can no longer see their wonderfully elderly father in law or mum because the support bubble isn't the right one. And just when you thought bubbles were just those soapy washing up liquid manifestations that float in the air when your team West Ham play.

Today we learn about yet another vaccine in the pipeline. Now some of us have lost count of how many times we've heard about those whispers, those wildly woolly statements from the powers that be. On Sunday the Mail on Sunday newspaper headlined with the front page splash that a vaccine was close to the point of readiness by Christmas. For a moment you were tempted to hug your wonderful family, rush out into the street and show your gratitude to your local newsagent by insisting on a bottle of champagne and thanking them for just being there. 

Now we found that our stupendously knowledgeable laboratory scientists are beginning to see the first signs of a radical breakthrough. Slowly but surely the antibodies within human cells are beginning to sort themselves out. And not before time. These antibodies could play a crucial role in the long road to global recovery. Maybe just maybe somebody knows something that they can't reveal because it could be another false hope and we couldn't possibly take that for much longer.

Still though, we find ourselves up against those multi-tiered stages which sound like so much psychobabble and gibberish that you can hardly bring yourself to pay any attention. It occurs to us that we are now living in the age of made-up phraseology, explanations that sound as they've been influenced by too many science fiction magazines or medical brochures full of glossy looking molecular structures and photos of lovely looking hearts and kidneys. 

But we now have tier one followed by tier two and then tier three which fall into their appropriate categories and fit like a glove. Now what are we to make of tier one since none of us can really tell whether it's safe to tread there for fear of being treated as an unwelcome intrusion? On the other hand you could belong in the second tier in which case it may be time to wish you the best luck because tier one could be preferable and you simply don't know whether it may be the safer option. If you're in the tier three then that could be the best of a bad job or whatever may be the more suitable tier. 

Goodness me! What has become of the year? The human race has officially come to a grinding halt for roughly the tenth time so far. It saw red lights back in March and didn't see green again until the middle of July by which time we were talking about damage limitation. We are wading through another vat of treacle, traipsing through a mudbath that shows no signs of drying up at any time. 

And yet if you were to take heed of those in the know we could be on the verge of a brand new golden age, a glorious renaissance where the green fields of England will once again resound to a fanfare of trumpets and quaint market towns will be populated by jubilant Morris dancers skipping blithely around maypoles. Surely by New Year's Eve we'll all be well again, totally revitalised and pretending that 2020 was just a figment of our imagination, some weird hallucination that we thought we might have experienced and even if it did then we weren't really conscious of the passage of time anyway. 

Winter is here and November is almost upon us. We've had our flu jabs and ensured some kind of immunity but as the torrential rains sweep across the rain and the blustery winds howl and whistle against your living room windows, you simply can't ignore the turbulence within the medical profession. Some of the most remarkable doctors and surgeons are still wrestling with a lethal virus that just turned into a Biblical plague. We shall never ever forget this year because we may convince us that it will be unforgettable for al the wrong reasons. We must still hope for a happy, healthy 2021. Surely things will get better. Keep topping those cups of coffee and remain composed.