Presidential theatrics: A scientist filtering out samples during the research and development of a vaccine against Covid-19 at a laboratory in St Petersburg, Russia on June 11,2020. Russian president Vladimir Putin has approved a vaccine, waiving the usual regulatory requirements. — Reuters
As the pandemic drags on with no end in sight, people around the world are increasingly pinning their hopes on the idea that a vaccine will spell the end of this annus horribilis and avert the horrors of 2020 spilling over into the coming year, allowing people to experience the world of BTS’ Dynamite and not continue into Orwellian dystopia.
Politicians are all too happy to stoke these hopes. “I promise you by the grace of God I hope by December we will be back to normal ... let’s just wait for the vaccine. It’s almost here, ” President Duterte averred in one of his late night addresses. Last month, US President Donald Trump declared: “We’ll produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner.” It was then reported that the Trump administration was considering fast tracking an experimental coronavirus vaccine developed in the UK for use in the United States ahead of the nation’s upcoming presidential election.
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