The announcement of the first fully-approved vaccines for COVID-19, the disease at the heart of probably the most pervasive pandemic the world has ever known, came as the proverbial light at the end of a long and particularly dark and death-filled tunnel. Pretty soon however, we learned those first ones (not counting Sputnik, the Russian contribution that presented a different set of problems) were not for everyone. We watched as the light eventually turned into a train, and then as it blew right by us. But it was hardly reason to be discouraged, because ours was on its way.

Bangladesh recorded another 17 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours until Friday morning, pushing up the national tally to 7,576.

The European Medicines Agency recommended conditional approval for a coronavirus vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer to be used across the European Union, weeks after the shot was first granted permission under emergency provisions in Britain and the United States.