All together for the final push for victory

THE NOTE of optimism struck in today’s Sunday Express by the Health Secretary Matt Hancock should give us hope that the end of the worst days of this pandemic is indeed drawing near.

“We are nearly on the home straight,” he says today.tens of millions will be vaccinated by the early spring, he has pledged.

After a record day of jabs and a clear threepoint plan unveiled today, there is no reason why he should not be right.

Our battalions of volunteers and NHS staff are rolling out hundreds of thousands of vaccines each day and in so doing pushing back our viral enemy.

When we look back on the past arduous months there will be many mistakes to reflect on – some avoidable, some not.

However the speed with which this country has acted on the development and rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme has been a stupendous success of which everyone can be proud.

It has given us a chance to start back on the road to recovery.

There is indeed light at the end of the long, dark tunnel in which we have been stuck for almost a year and we all hope that we will emerge into the sunshine sooner rather than later.

This is especially true for the many businesses, people whose livelihoods depend on the thousands of jobs currently in stasis, the creative industries and hospitality sector.

The admirable speed of the vaccination programme must be translated into giving all kinds of enterprise the chance to reopen quickly.

For now though, we must collectively join the effort to enable that to happen.

So it is important that we heed the words of Mr Hancock and Princewilliam – who has urged everyone to get the jab when told to – and do our part in this final push to victory.

We need to: Help Out! Join Up! Stay Informed!

If we do this then liberation from the spectre of disease is at hand.