Advent is a time of looking forward to a brighter future—the
anticipation of a new birth—of hope and light. In many Christian communities it
triggers the concept of being “born again”. I suppose irrespective of our
“style” of faith most of us feel “born again” at this Christmas time as we
recall many memories from our past and watch, often teary eyed, the nativity
plays and concerts, in my case, of my grandchildren. Maybe, remembering the
more hectic working days when on time arrival at the children’s concerts was
often touch and go! and also to distant memories of our own performances. For
me, remarkably, they are still as clear as day and still a reflective highlight
of my life at this time of year. It really saddens me that there will be no
concerts this year and it has certainly created a big hole in my psychological
preparation for Christmas.
Despite this being a year to forget for most people it has
been special for me personally. Given my previous working life in the
pharmaceutical and vaccines industry, I watched with increasing concern the
development of the Covid pandemic in China back in January of this year. I
followed it carefully from the outset and from mid February started to produce
regular weekly briefings for my colleagues in Rotary and interested friends. As
we went into the long lock-down in March, preparing these often quite long
reports kept me occupied but also frustrated that I couldn’t do more. So, in
late May, via a series of professional contacts, I joined the UK Vaccines Task
Force. Fully vetted and security cleared!
Our initial role was to select from the many ongoing
projects the ones which we felt were the most likely to succeed and meet the
needs of the UK and, as importantly, the wider world. This took around 3 months
to complete and then we worked with each of the chosen candidates to support
them to achieve regulatory approval and launch. Two weeks ago we saw the launch
of the Pfizer vaccine and we are also now very close to seeing the approval of
the Oxford/Astra Zeneca vaccine, hopefully, before the end of the year. Others should
follow early next year.
To repeat what we know, that this has been an incredibly
difficult year for all of us but it does seem that we do now have a light at
the end of the tunnel and we can see that science used in the right way can be
an incredible force for good in the world.
So, this year I thank God that I have personally been “born
again” with regards to my professional life. Also, to feel the incredible
satisfaction of being part of a global team who have been instrumental in
bringing this to fruition in such a short time.
We hope and pray that through this work we can regain a
sense of normality in our lives so that with God’s guidance we can follow the
light of a vaccine to a brighter future and once again shed tears of joy at the
many nativity plays and concerts still ahead of us in life.
Happy Christmas
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