So, let’s recap. In one calendar year we:

Discovered a brand new virus that spread the world over

Isolated the full genetic code of the virus

Figured out the proteins that were on the outer part of the virus that we could potentially launch an immune response to.

Isolated the single gene sequence that coded for the spike protein on the outside of the virus

Made an mRNA version of that gene sequence so our own bodies could produce that protein, launch an immune response against it, & therefore acquire immunity to the virus.

(Which, by the way, is a brand new method of producing a vaccine.)

Tested that new vaccine for tolerability.

Tested it in ~50,000 people... where it was almost 95% effective and NO ONE got a serious illness.

Manufactured and produced that novel vaccine with specialized factories (since it had never been done before).

Approved and distributed said vaccine to get the first doses of that vaccine into the arms of the people most at risk in multiple countries around the world.

All in the amount of time between my son’s 6th and 7th birthday!

We barely knew about this thing 12 months ago and next week there’ll be a vaccine in Canada.

Science for the fucking win!

(Also, every researcher I know spends maybe 10% of their time researching & the rest with paperwork, grant proposals, & various nonsense. I always wondered what they could achieve if they could just ‘research’ & do their work. Apparently, save the damn world.)

Epilogue: In the next calendar year, we’ll probably have produced & distributed several different vaccines with sufficient quantity to vaccinate 1/3 to 1/2 the world’s population.

Seriously, it took longer to create Avenger’s Endgame.