The great American boxer Mike Tyson offered up a pithy and eloquent understanding of world affairs when he said: “Everyone has a plan, until you get punched in the face.”

The former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan was once asked by a young journalist to reflect on the greatest challenge facing a statesman. His response: “Events, dear boy, events.”

Amid the millions of words that have spilled out across newspapers, social media feeds and news sites regarding the implosion of Afghanistan, Ajmal Ahmady, the recently departed governor of the central bank, may have offered the most pithy and accurate.

We will long remember 2020 as the year of the pandemic. Future historians, however, may add another milestone to the troubling year: The hottest year on record. In a world where climate policy has shot to the top of the global agenda, we now have the temperatures to back up the concerns.

The race to produce multiple coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines seems to be approaching the finish line, but there is no time for a victory lap — the new challenge will be to vaccinate our world.