Our future - a vaccine!
A Soviet propaganda poster from 1950 shows a father, mother and son gazing into the great beyond, with a caption in red: "Our future - communism!" Another shows two Soviet People moving "Forward, to the victory of communism!," with Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin covering their backs. Replace "communism" with "vaccine," and welcome to 2020! If all the propaganda we are hearing is true, we'll have a covid-19 vaccine by Jan. of next year, and the world will gradually be saved from the highly infectious disease that leaves dead bodies in its wake. Another possibility is that highly profitable vaccines will be rushed to market that are either ineffective or that cause even worse health problems than the virus itself, which would turn the idea of Health First completely on its head. And then there is the possibility that there will never be a covid shot, because, like communism, the promise of a vaccine is merely an opiate that sedates the masses as the world around them crumbles.
Glossary of difficult words
to gaze - to look steadily and intently, esp. in admiration, surprise or thought;
the beyond - the unknown;
Soviet People - as defined by the Communist Party, "a new historical, social, and international community of people having a common territory, economy, and socialist content; a culture that reflects the particularities of multiple nationalities; a federal state; and a common ultimate goal: the construction of communism";
in one's wake - left behind as one goes;
shot - an injection of a drug or vaccine;
opiate - a thing that soothes of stupefies;
to sedate - to calm someone or make him or her sleep by administering a sleep-inducing drug;
to crumble - to disintegrate gradually over a period of time.