As we head towards the end of this most unsettling of years, it's hard to imagine a time when good news will no longer be overshadowed by caution. COVID-19 restrictions are easing, and more tomorrow are predicted, but caution is still advised.
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Victoria is starting to recover but most of the rest of the world is still in the grip of the virus. News a coronavirus vaccine may be rolled out by March is a sliver of hope in a year like nothing no other.
Pfizer Inc's results - a 90 per cent success rate, described by a senior World Health Organisation official as "very positive" - could mean a turning point for the global pandemic. There has to be one somewhere but it will never be as clear-cut as a simple announcement. Thankfully Australia has signed a deal that will ultimately give us access to such a vaccine should it prove successful.
It's a prospect we have all been looking towards from the very earliest days of the global lockdowns. But now that it may well be on the horizon, it is still no time for complacency.
Restrictions are easing slowly but surely but there is still - and will be for a long time yet - reason to remain on alert.
Infections globally are hitting record levels, particularly in the United States and throughout Europe.
And a vaccine that is both effective and widely available is still many months away.
The basic protective measures that have now become part of our everyday lives - hand sanitiser, social distancing and masks where we can't distance - remain as important as ever.
The prospect of a vaccine won't be enough to permanently alter our current approach to social gatherings, even in COVID-free south-west Victoria.
As if to underline the fragility of Victoria's current streak of 30-plus days without a new case of the virus, traces of COVID-19 were found recently in Portland and Colac wastewater systems.
Life may be starting to take on a rhythm that is recognisable from the recent past but we need to remain vigilant because there is still a chance a third wave could strike before a vaccine is available.