Public expectations after Covid-19 vaccines are introduced need to be carefully managed to ensure disillusionment does not turn into a backlash, leading research institutions said.
The Royal Society and British Academy said that first-generation vaccines are unlikely to be a "silver bullet".
There will still be a longer transition period where people will be required to socially distance and wear face masks, the report said.
Prof Melinda Mills, lead author of the report Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment, believes the government's continued reference to a vaccine as a great hope has led to public misunderstanding of the realities.
"When the vaccine comes it will be quite complex and people will still have to engage in social distancing or working from home," Prof Mills told The National.
"There will be multiple vaccines, which is quite unusual, and communicating this under conditions of uncertainty will be very frightening for some people.
"That is why we need to start a transparent dialogue about how the vaccine will be made available across the country."
Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their first coronavirus vaccine was 90 per cent effective, raising hopes around the world that life will soon return to normal.
The report suggests that 80 per cent uptake of a vaccine is required to protect communities from infection if the R rate were between 2.5 and 3.
The R rate is the average number of people infected by one carrier.
The UK has a strong record of immunisation for most major diseases but the uncertainty created by the pandemic, and the hardships endured by thousands of families, has left many susceptible to misinformation.
The report also highlights the role that misleading information has played in shaping attitudes towards vaccination.
Since the start of the pandemic, mistruths online have sparked debate about the role social media companies play in protecting information about the virus and its cure.
Anti-vaccination movements have created content that has a clear message and is easy to share.
Google, Facebook and Twitter have agreed to work with the UK government to promote factual messages on vaccines.
They also promised to fight and not to profit from Covid-19 vaccine misinformation shared on their platforms.
Centralised tracking and tracing in England to limit the spread of the virus received much criticism from local governments, which felt ill-equipped to fight the pandemic.
Today’s report suggests that a decentralised approach for introducing vaccines is the best way to increase community engagement.
“There is always some resistance to decentralising things and working at the local level, but you have to meaningfully engage with people if you want to bring about certainty," Prof Mills said.
"People have genuine fears about vaccines and they often trust their local GP or community leaders over more senior politicians."
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Saudi Arabia
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FIXTURES
Thu Mar 15 – West Indies v Afghanistan, UAE v Scotland
Fri Mar 16 – Ireland v Zimbabwe
Sun Mar 18 – Ireland v Scotland
Mon Mar 19 – West Indies v Zimbabwe
Tue Mar 20 – UAE v Afghanistan
Wed Mar 21 – West Indies v Scotland
Thu Mar 22 – UAE v Zimbabwe
Fri Mar 23 – Ireland v Afghanistan
The top two teams qualify for the World Cup
Classification matches
The top-placed side out of Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong or Nepal will be granted one-day international status. UAE and Scotland have already won ODI status, having qualified for the Super Six.
Thu Mar 15 – Netherlands v Hong Kong, PNG v Nepal
Sat Mar 17 – 7th-8th place playoff, 9th-10th place play-off
