Sin Chew Daily

On the front cover of the latest issue of Time magazine, the number "2020" is crossed in bold red, with the tiny black print of "The Worst Year Ever" beneath it to epitomize the feelings of people for the year, in a way that underlines the utter frustration which makes looking back at the year about to conclude so undesirable.

The time-honored 97-year-old magazine has on four previous occasions done the same thing to its covers. The first time was when Adolf Hitler killed himself at the end of World War II in 1945, while the other three times were all related to wars, too, with crosses marking the end of wars.

The big red "X" on the front cover of the latest edition of Time does not imply that humans have triumphed over the virus, but to declare that 2020 is the "worst ever year" in human history.

Looking back at the past one year, the coronavirus has ravaged humanity for a full 365 days. Despite the fact nations across the globe have resorted to all kinds of methods to try to contain its spread, the virus remains unyielding, with the total number of infections breaching the 68 million mark and counting, and 1.55 million killed worldwide.

Here in Malaysia, the total number of confirmed cases topped 75,000 yesterday, and the coronavirus control system adopted by Chinese COVID-19 expert Zhong Nanshan's team projected that Malaysia's positive cases could surge to 190,000 as early as January 25.

We have become so powerless in the face of the dreadful virus. All we can do is to wait for the global rollout of effective vaccines.

History tells us that humans will not sit down and do nothing as they wait to get killed by viruses. Smallpox, which had haunted the human race for three millennia with a fatality rate up to 25%, was declared officially extinct only as recently as in May 1980.

If even such a stubborn virus can be wiped out from the surface of the Earth, sure enough we can do the same to the coronavirus, provided that we keep ourselves alive until effective vaccines are widely available in the market.

Thank God, the vaccine that 7.8 billion earthlings have been praying for is finally here, as a global vaccination program kicks off this week with the UK and Russia the first two countries in the world to receive the vaccines. British health secretary Matt Hancock has dubbed the first day of vaccination "V-Day" (for Victory). The next one week will be of historical significance to human's war against the virus.

The virus began to spread globally in early 2020, and its severity was hard to predict before February. World-class pharmaceutical firms capable of developing effective vaccines theoretically might not be motivated to research and develop vaccines against a virus thought to have very low infection and fatality rates on commercial consideration. Dozens of major global manufacturers only began to expedite the studies and development of vaccines after the outbreak began to go out of control in Europe and North America, and after politics began to seep in as a consequence of the "Trump Effect".

It typically takes five to ten years from initial studies of a new vaccine to clinical trials on human bodies at third stage of vaccine development and onward to securing green light for market circulation. But this time, Pfizer, BioNtech, Moderna, China's Sinovac Biotech and Russia's Sputnik-V have only taken nine months to complete the development of vaccines which claim to be at least 90% effective.

Given such unbelievable "efficiency", we cannot rule out the possibility that some crucial procedures might have been skipped, sparking fears of undesirable side effects and safety concerns among the general public.

55% of people in Britain are worried about the adverse effects, while 58% in the United States say they are willing to take the vaccination. In Malaysia, as many as 82% of people are willing to get vaccinated.

Experts in China are concerned that vaccines developed in the West may not be suitable for Asians as they could trigger more intense side effects.

Nevertheless, compared to the disastrous public health and economic impact from the coronavirus, we may have to trust these professional institutions and pharmaceutical firms and take part in the vaccination program even though their vaccines could have adverse effects on individual recipients.

Both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have received the vaccine and so far they have not shown any visible side effects. Even the 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth II and 99-year-old Prince Philip are prepared to get vaccinated!

The vaccines that we have purchased from Pfizer and COVAC will arrive here early next year. We should take the vaccines fearlessly, and bury 2020, the worst year ever, in the deepest parts of our memories.