Ensuring COVID‐related innovation is sustained

A renewed sense of hope and optimism has been generated as nurses anticipate the pandemic will abate. The International Year of the Nurse and Midwife in 2020 was cruel and challenging. Within the tragedy of COVID-19, nurses have consistently led with innovations and reforms to prepare for, overcome and recover from the death, and devastation of this pandemic. In excess of 1,500 nurses and 7,000 healthcare workers have died and more than 3 million healthcare workers have been infected (The International Council of Nurses, 2020). This is heartbreaking as many of these infections and deaths were preventable. As the linchpin in the healthcare system with close and constant proximity to patients (Nayna Schwerdtle et al., 2020), our impact on outcomes is indisputable. Nurses will again lead in this next phase of the pandemic, as programs for vaccination are initiated and scaled across the globe.