The Pfizer vaccine’s approval by UK regulators marked what many hope is the beginning of the end of the coronavirus crisis. That was certainly the impression Boris Johnson was keen to convey during his Downing Street press conference on Wednesday. The Prime Minister, however, warned the British people to avoid being overly optimistic. Deputy chief medical officer professor Jonathan Van-Tam went even further: ‘I don’t think we’re going to eradicate coronavirus,’ he said, ‘I think it’s going to be with humankind forever.’
If professor Van-Tam is correct, what can we expect to happen in our battle against the virus in the coming weeks and months? To answer such a question, it is first worth re-examining how the situation has looked a few months ago and just how quickly things can change.
In September, I wrote in The Spectator that slow exponential growth of the kind we were then seeing in Europe would have very serious consequences if left unchecked.
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