Hopeful news yesterday from biotech firm Moderna regarding a coronavirus vaccine that preliminary results show could be up to 95 percent effective. Last week, Pfizer and its German partner, BioNTech, announced similar results for an independently developed vaccine.
Co-developer of the Moderna vaccine is the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Anthony S. Fauci, among the most trusted experts in the United States on the coronavirus situation --- except among hardcore Republicans.
“It’s extremely good news. If you look at the data, the numbers speak for themselves,” Fauci said. “I describe myself as a realist, but I’m fundamentally a cautious optimist. I felt we’d likely get something less than this. … I said certainly a 90-plus-percent effective vaccine is possible, but I wasn’t counting on it.”
Many other researchers around the world are developing comparable vaccines, so this does appear to be a light at the end of a long tunnel.
But it will be months, perhaps spring, before vaccines are generally available. So the trick will be to stay alive and well until then.
A glance at the world map suggests that the Far East --- China, Japan, South Korea and others --- is the best positioned along with our friends in Australia and New Zealand to survive, rebuild their economies and prosper.
Europe and other parts of the world are on lockdown again and, of course, the United States is wildly out of control, especially "red" areas like Iowa in the great middle. That's primarily a factor of absent and/or erratic leadership on various levels and lack of self-control among the general population.
So keep your distance, wash your hands and wear a mask.
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