STATE OF MIND “Faced with new realities of working from home, temporary unemployment, home schooling of children, and a lack of physical contact with other family members, friends and colleagues, it is important that we look after our mental as well as physical health,” the WHO cautions. Indeed, the fear of infection is real, as is that of isolation (‘quarantine,’ as we’ve come to know it); and this has a multiplier effect on our levels of anxiety. There’s no question that the sheer devastation of the pandemic is having a marked effect on people’s mental health with a recent survey in the United States revealing that over 42 percent of those polled by the US Census Bureau in December reported symptoms of anxiety or depression. At the same time, the United Nations High Com­missioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi lamented in a recent interview on CNN that more than 20 million people across the globe currently need humanitarian help as a result of the pandemic and conflict. But while the world we live in is in a dark place, the ‘year of the vaccine’ brings hope for humankind as immunisation rolls out – as long as all those who want a jab get it because this virus is in­discriminate; it knows no boundaries, be it rich or poor, north or south, or the privileged or destitute.