Despite all the gloom, there are still lots of reasons to be cheerful as we look to emerge from the shadow of Covid-19.

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen lately in terms of keeping our mental health positive is to turn off mainstream media.

And it’s easy to see why this advice might be given.

Every time we open a newspaper or turn on a news bulletin on radio or TV, the lead stories relate to things like the number of new cases, the number of deaths, the number of people in ICU etc.

And while I would never look to make light of how Covid has had a terrible impact on many people in our community, the fact of the matter is that it’s not all bad news on the pandemic front.

Why do I say this?

Well simply because, against the backdrop of all this negativity, some of the greatest minds in the history of our our planet – from the fields of pharmaceuticals, medicine and chemistry – have been working flat out for the past eight months to come up with a vaccination that will completely change the game in terms of letting us live alongside the virus in a way that we can all accept.

It’s also important to note that the findings of all these experts are being shared with the rest of the world.

This is very definitely not a case of Company A developing a vaccine and then looking to sit on a patent and make a huge amount of money from it.

The global political and economic body has committed huge sums of money to those companies coming up with a successful vaccine, so pharma companies don’t have to go down the road of ‘sitting’ on their vaccine.

By way of example, Operation Warp Speed from the US government has already pledged an eyewatering $10 billion towards delivering 300 million doses of a safe vaccine by the end of January 2021.

And at the same time, the World Health Organization is coordinating global effort to develop a safe and effective vaccine, with the intention of delivering two billion doses by the end of next year.

The fact of the matter is that, with each passing day, we are a day nearer to an announcement of a successful vaccine.

And when that happens, it will signal a huge change in our energy levels around this challenge that seems to have been going on forever.

Depending on who you listen to, an announcement can be expected as soon as Christmas to say that we have a winning formula.

This doesn’t mean that we’re out of the woods, of course, as there will be several more months before production can be ramped up to a level where anyone in the world who wants a vaccine can have one.

Unlike back in 1918 when the Spanish Flu hit us so hard, there is a concerted effort at work this time.

Did you know, for example, that there are over 150 different coronavirus vaccines in development right now?

And while it can take anything from ten to fifteen years to bring an effective vaccine to the market, this will definitely not be the case on this occasion, as there is too much as stake for the world.

It’s not just the loss of life, it’s also the effect on our economies, on our children, on our mental health and on our societies.

Without doubt, this will be the quickest vaccine in the history of our planet, but this doesn’t mean that shortcuts are being taken.

To make sure that they are safe, all vaccines have to go through three distinct stages of a clinical trial process.

Only when they have done so are they sent for approval to bodies such as the American Food and Drug Administration, and at that stage, it’s up to the production experts to roll out the vaccines as quickly as possible – and in volumes that will run to the billions.

The bottom line is that in the middle of all the bad news we’re hearing, there is some tremendous work going on in the background, and I truly believe that it won’t be all that long before corporate events and weddings will be back on the menu – not just in Ireland, but right around the world.