WHEN a British grandmother became the first person to receive a new coronavirus vaccine last week, it was the shot felt around the world.
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Margaret Keenan wore a face mask and a Merry Christmas T-shirt as she received the vaccination at University Hospital Coventry early last Tuesday morning (UK time) to mark the start of a nationwide rollout that, we hope, will go down in history as the beginning of the end for the coronavirus pandemic.
Frontline healthcare workers and the most vulnerable are at the front of the queues to receive the jab but the UK must know the eyes of the world will be watching.
As the country approaches the depths of winter with infection numbers again on an upward swing, this piece of good news could not have come at a better time.
And it's a similar story in the US where infections are again growing at a frightening rate and health authorities have scrambled to begin their mass vaccination to try and finally bring this disaster under control.
Again, however, we are reminded just how relatively fortunate Australia has been through this pandemic. We've long called ourselves The Lucky Country and, despite the terrible challenges 2020 has thrown at our nation, it seems as true as ever this year.
The tyranny of distance became a safety blanket for Australia this year, proving a massive help for governments as they took steps to limit the spread of the virus on our shores.
Our strong economy and robust health system were both sorely tested but held firm enough.
Our governments acted decisively in rolling out stimulus packages to support the millions of workers who lost their jobs or had their hours cut back during the worst of the lockdowns while our hospitals, while stretched, did not become overwhelmed.
Even our seasons worked in our favour.
It was summer in Australia as the virus first took hold in the Northern Hemisphere and we had the advantage of time to both monitor the response of other countries and to prepare our response.
And now, as the vaccination rollouts begin, it's summer again and we have precious breathing space to see how it goes in the US and UK before we have to start our own.