The second wave’s devastating blow Covid sledgehammer The second wave as taken a terrible toll - REUTERS× 2021 is turning out to be worse than the last year. The true death figures could be terrifyingly high Does anyone remember the collective sigh of relief we all heaved when 2020 came to a quieter-than-expected end? It wasn’t a moment for uncorking the champagne but the general consensus was that the new year could hardly be as awful as the last. Doom-mongers had to lie low that night because the sheer weight of public opinion was solidly against them. Here we are five months later, all firmly locked down, not stepping far beyond our own front gates. Did someone say vaccine hesitancy? As the death toll rises inexorably, all talk of vaccine hesitancy has evaporated, replaced by the counting of the weeks to the second jab.