Vaccine offers hope of family reunion

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began rampaging across the world last year, the one question that's been on everyone's mind is, when are we going to get past it?

Here we are in 2021, and more than a year later, we're still waiting for the answer to that question. Meanwhile, the novel coronavirus has had a devastating impact on virtually every nation on the planet. The latest figures show that more than 3 million have died and more than 141 million have contracted the virus worldwide. The virus has decimated global economies, leaving many people without jobs and desperately needed incomes. Others are stranded in other countries, unable to return to their families due to COVID-19 control and prevention measures and/or transportation problems (such as limited, costly flights).

My situation is a mixed blessing.

On the one hand, I'm very, very lucky to be in China right now and still earning a living at a time when businesses around the world remain shuttered. China's handling of the virus has made life here almost normal again, and I feel quite confident moving about Beijing and traveling to other cities domestically, for the most part.

On the other hand, I feel a sense of confinement because I can't travel freely around the world at the moment. In fact, I haven't left China since January of last year, just a couple of weeks before the outbreak really got going. This is troublesome because all my family lives overseas-in particular, my young daughter, who I miss deeply. I keep in touch with her through video chat every week, but I feel like I'm missing out on so much of her life, and it hurts.

My little one, only 6 years old, lives with her mother in Malaysia. Since I last saw her, she's graduated from kindergarten, learned to ride a bicycle and lost her top two front teeth. She's growing up so fast, and I can't be there to witness any of it.

Though flights are still operating between Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian government is prohibiting most foreigners from visiting now as it struggles to get its coronavirus situation under control. And even if it were to allow foreigners now, I would have to spend two weeks in quarantine, and then probably another two weeks of it upon returning to China.

I definitely don't have the ability to take that much leave from my job. Moreover, flights are more inconsistent and a lot more expensive than before the pandemic, further complicating matters.

Recently, a ray of hope beamed down on me in the form of a vaccination opportunity. The Chinese government is now giving expats the chance to get inoculated, something I had been hoping for. I finally got my first jab on April 14, and I have to return for the next roughly a month later.

There are many people around the world who are afraid to get the vaccine because they don't trust their governments or think the vaccines won't work, but I am happy I received it. I think such inoculations are key to the development of herd immunity in countries around the world as the virus is showing no signs of disappearing anytime soon. It's my hope that air travel will return to normal in terms of options and prices once more people get shots, and I'm certainly glad that I took that key step.

The sooner I can be with my child again, the better.