Currently, the coronavirus vaccine rate has reached over one million per day in the United States. In the coming months, the average is expected to rise further due to improvements in distribution and storage techniques as well as a higher number of people willing to get vaccinated.
Such developments in vaccine distribution programs across the world raise the global population’s hopes for achieving herd immunity this year.
A few weeks ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the chief medical advisor of the Biden administration and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also shared similar views, saying that there are chances of the pandemic ending after the summer of 2021.
At the same time, he also added that it is only possible if people strictly take preventive measures along with getting vaccinated in order to minimize transmission rates of the virus.
Similarly, Dr. Marty Makary, who is a professor and surgeon at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, recently expressed his views in a commentary appearing in The Wall Street Journal.
In his commentary, Dr. Makary pointed at the decreasing number of new cases of the coronavirus infection and stated that the virus will be gone by the month of April and the majority will return to their pre-pandemic lives.
However, other infectious disease experts have contrasting views and do not think that the infection will be gone in such a short period even with widespread vaccination and coronavirus control policies.
Even if the vaccination rate in the US has increased in comparison with the past two months, it does not mean that it will remain the same especially now that new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are emerging.
During the past few weeks, coronavirus vaccines, including the AstraZeneca vaccine have been recalled because they are not as effective against some of the new strains especially the South Asian variant of the virus.
Though both Pfizer and Moderna were found to be effective against the strains, there is no guarantee that they will also work on any other variants that may emerge in the future.
In such a situation, coronavirus infections across the globe will rise once again along with hospitalizations and deaths. Some experts have warned that this is likely to happen in the coming weeks with the existent variants as people are not taking preventive measures.
Ideally, the majority should be following guidelines for prevention and getting any of the available vaccines but this still does not guarantee the return to ‘normal’ life prior to the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
In reality, it is unclear what the post-pandemic may look like but it may actually be very similar to the current everyday life as there will still be a need for control policies for new variants.
Additionally, new surveys have also shown that many people have stated that they will continue following instructions for prevention including wearing a mask, avoiding physical contact, and suggested hygienic practices even after the end of the pandemic.
Therefore, it can be said that there may not be a return to the old normal way of life or
