Good news for Covid-19 Ireland: Christmas hope and vaccination schedule emerge

Ireland continues to fight the coronavirus pandemic and it doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon.

The number of cases is rising rapidly again, and soon so is the number of hospitalizations and deaths.

However, it’s important to remember that it’s not all doom and gloom – and there are reasons to be optimistic.

Here are some of them:

Christmas hope

Strict new measures may be on the way – especially after NPHET on Thursday recommended the government put in place a six-week level 5 lockdown.

While this may sound very grim, health experts insist that this form of lockdown would effectively allow us to “save” Christmas.

Former Health Secretary Simon Harris said yesterday that the new statewide bans on home visits could be the “game changer” that could help in efforts to save the festive season.

He said: “To be able to spend Christmas together we have to go without the cup of tea now, and it is difficult.

“We’re trying to make sure that people can have Christmas here.

“And make sure we can try to get together with friends and family in some form over Christmas.

“We strongly believe that people can view the advice we are asking now, especially regarding household visits and working from home, as a game changer.

“The price here is big – it is actually possible to see family and friends again.”

A vaccination timeline is created

A number of vaccines are currently in the final phase three study with the widespread hope that we can even find out their effectiveness by the end of the year.

Pfizer, one of the companies leading the race to make a vaccine, announced today that it is aiming for an emergency clearance by the end of November, depending on the results of additional tests.

And Dr. Anthony Fauci, the best US doctor in the fight against Covid-19, believes some form of vaccine could be widespread by April.

Dr. Fauci, a doctor and immunologist who you may have seen on the Late Late Show recently, believes an effective vaccine is not far away.

He told CBS News on Wednesday that even if all vaccines were deemed effective in the final stages, the schedule for full vaccine delivery would be towards the end of the first quarter of 2021.

There are now more than 170 teams working on vaccines worldwide.

There are currently 11 vaccines in phase three clinical trials and one step ahead of approval.

19 vaccines are in phase two and in expanded safety studies.

Another 35 candidates are in the first phase, which are small trials and are still far from being ready.

While 142 are in the pre-clinical stage and not yet ready for human trials.