The Vaccine is Here. But Still be careful out there.

The fact that we have a vaccine, and this quickly, should be considered nothing less than a time to celebrate the distance science has come to bring something so quickly to us. 
If only. UK is now shut off from the world (a new strain, more infectious but not yet known if it's more deadly) [1] as the incompetence of the west is still there for the world to see. In general this makes the usual comparisons that many in the center like to make vis a vis Europe beyond useless. Yeah sure we're doing better than a few (usually places with universal healthcare) EU countries, but what does that mean? They fucked up too. Asian countries have also kicked the ass of this virus and it was by a bare minimum competency. Something lacking in most countries here, and I'm still not sure why exactly. [2]
Again, there's been a host of variables that have mattered, such as age of the population, access to healthcare etc etc, but the biggest one is taking it seriously and having the population of said countries taking it seriously. But there is something else that hasn't been factored in, and that, I think, is social cohesion. This comes across in things like trust in government and so forth (and thus actually listening to mask mandates etc) but it's other things. Like how much do you care that your fellow citizen might die? I sense there's something else driving many people in these countries and it's a moth to light desire that neoliberalism creates in the people of a nation. [3]

If get rich or die trying is the national motto and someone dares to cut off your money supply, then of course you'll balk. Better to fight that and play Russian roulette with a virus than fall behind. I get it, I really do. Once again, the bulk of the blame falls on our leaders. Thoughts? [4]
[1] Apparently, with how the virus works, and how the vaccine works, these strains will not be different enough, or the part that the vaccine attacks will not be different enough to make the vaccine ineffective. I imagine that's a probability thing so we'll see. Fingers crossed for now.
[2] Those of you sad that the US isn't #1, don't worry, we're passing the EU and I'm sure we'll soon crush them. 
[3] Note that this has happened in many Euro countries where even their normal safety nets have been chipped away at (see the NHS in the UK etc etc), or not been provided to the darker people there etc. And sure, Asian countries like S.Korea are capitalistic like the west, but they have different functions, like their leaders seeming to care about who dies (and quite possibly they lucked out that the previous right wing nutter wasn't in charge when the virus came along). 
[4] And yea, sure, the Dems are better, I agree, but I do love that right now there seems to be such consternation over a measly 600$ being sent to people in need when, with the flick of a button, hundreds of billions (and trillions) of corporate debt was wiped out and also pumped back into the stock market. Yep, socialism for the rich and hard capitalism for the poor, as it was so shall it be. I mean, I get it, I just expected a little more of an outcry about all this. 
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