Irish Examiner view: Restrictions and vaccines both sides of the same coin

The first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arriving in the Republic of Ireland. Picture: Marc O'Sullivan/PA

This has been a Christmas like no other in living memory. 

Unavoidable restrictions made a bonhomie-as-usual holiday impossible. 

Too many families were unable to come together, too many regular celebrations, everything from office parties to regular reunions, were impossible. 

That this actuality was recognised as necessary by the great majority of people is a sign that these grim, isolated days will pass in time.

That stands despite Tánaiste Leo Varadkar’s indication that he does not envisage lifting level 5 restrictions any time soon. 

It is possible to counter that caution with the fact that the vaccines are becoming more and more available as each day passes. 

Level 5 restrictions and the vaccines are, in the broadest sense, both sides of the same coin.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that the State will vaccinate up to 20,000 people a week from early January and positive as that news is much more needs to be done — a vaccination rate of 20,000 a week, despite all the complexities involved, is hardly equal to the challenge facing us all. 

Nevertheless the tide has turned and optimism has been renewed.