On Monday, the government announced its programme of distribution for the COVID-19 vaccine.

The first batch, in January, will be reserved for the most vulnerable and those most likely to transmit the virus to them, their healthcare workers. Others will be vaccinated in further batches of diminishing vulnerability over the following months. Two doses will be required to obtain adequate immunity.

This is all good. Hopefully, our society will begin to see a return to something approaching normality by next summer and, more importantly, hundreds of lives will be saved while previously healthy persons will not be subjected to the long-term collateral effects of COVID-19, effects that only now are we beginning to understand fully. It will take until the summer because, for the vaccination programme to be effective, the vast majority of the population will have to take it.

There are signs that, while the vaccine will not be made mandatory, participation in some activities will require certification. Those desperate to travel again, for example, need to bear in mind that,  for many countries, it seems increasingly likely that proof of vaccination will be demanded before entry.

It is right and natural that the public will demand the highest possible assurances of safety. However, as the time draws nearer to availability, the persistent voices of conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and other extremists, many of who believe COVID-19 was all a planned crisis by the super-rich to get richer, will become ever more strident. As will the number of articles on websites of very dubious repute spreading false rumours about its side effects.

This is not a new phenomenon. A few facts regarding vaccines are appropriate here.

The first vaccine against smallpox was developed in 1798 by British scientist Edward Jenner. Thanks to a massive programme starting in the 1950s, smallpox, a terrible and deadly disease, was eradicated by the 1970s. The same can almost be said for polio.

The incidence of other viral illnesses such as measles and rubella, until recently, had greatly diminished as well. There has been a surge in infections in the last two years, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and many more were severely disabled.

The sole reason is that a vaccine which has been used safely for 50 years, became the target of anti-vaxxers. The false information and bad press was spread via social media and, as is the way of the world, people listened and took note without verifying the facts.

The alleged association of the rubella vaccine with autism all began with a study published by a medical professional. That study was proven to be completely doctored and the person who wrote it has since been imprisoned. In the meantime, children born to unvaccinated mothers suffered.

The rate of serious side effects from vaccines is very low. One of the trials of the new coronavirus vaccines showed that only three people out of the 23,000 volunteers who took 56,000 doses suffered serious side effects. This compares very well with common medicines we use daily without giving them a second thought.

Average life expectancy has increased by 30 per cent since World War II. There are two primary factors behind this. The availability of antibiotics and the widespread inoculation against some very nasty viruses.

The fact you are reading this now and are not a sad statistic of a very young death may well be thanks to one of the two.

So, please, when the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, trust the European regulators who have approved it with the best interests of the population at heart and seriously consider taking it.