A COVID-19  vaccine could allow the travel industry, and passengers, to recover to a world much like we experienced before March, where masks were not necessary on planes, and testing wasn’t required to visit a destination. And quarantine—sigh—would be a requirement of the past.

Of course this is only the beginning of the end. Know that country entry restrictions, including pre-flight testing, quarantine periods and physical distancing requirements are still in effect until early 2021, at the very least.

Other vaccines are also in the pipeline, including the Oxford-AstraZeneca proposal, which is said to be unlikely to offer 90% effectiveness, In other words, more people could receive doses of this vaccine as well, if it makes it through final trials.

But the logistics to get the vaccine distributed are more complicated than many others. We’ll  need literal billions of doses to be manufactured and that doesn’t happen overnight.

Confidence will slowly grow around the world that the most extreme measures may no longer be necessary, and some level of normalcy could eventually resume. The world may never be the same, but in many ways that’s not a bad thing.

If you thought travel was a pipe dream for summer 2021, think again. This vaccine might just be the answer to our collective travel wishes. Let’s see what happens but I grow more optimistic with news like this.