In record speed, vaccines are here, and more are on their way. Less than a year since the coronavirus began ravaging the world, the first shots are raising hopes for wiping the COVID-19 pandemic from the face of the earth.
Today¡¯s programs in the U.S. and the U.K. are precursors to immunization campaigns intended to reach the planet¡¯s entire population ¡ª all 8 billion people in every corner of the globe.
There is reason for optimism. Vaccines are the best, and perhaps only, way to eliminate infectious disease: Smallpox has been eradicated and polio is on the brink, with just two countries where transmission persists. But global vaccine campaigns take time ¡ª usually decades ¡ª suggesting that even with the latest technologies, money and might behind the unprecedented global drive to knock out COVID-19, the disease is unlikely to be eliminated any time soon.
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