All the things that could prolong the COVID-19 pandemic – that could make this virus a part of our lives more than anyone wants – are playing right in front of our eyes.
The whole picture: At the moment, the US is still making fantastic progress in vaccinations. But as variants of the virus cause new outbreaks and infect more children, the US is also getting a preview of what the future might hold if our vaccination momentum loses steam – as experts fear it could soon.
News management: The British version is leading to a further increase in cases in Michigan, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer has opposed the reinstatement of any of the blockade measures she adopted earlier in the pandemic.
- Variants are beginning to infect more children, even as schools move toward reopening, making the pandemic “a brand new ball game,” as Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, recently said.
- New research confirms that our existing vaccines do not work as well against the South African variant.
Between the lines: This is a preview of the longer and darker future of the coronavirus that the US may face without sufficient vaccinations – one that many experts consider quite likely.
- Although the pace of vaccinations is still strong, there is a growing fear that it will slow down. In some parts of the country, especially in the south, demand for photographs has already slowed down enough to create a surplus of available doses.
How it works: The more a virus can spread, the more opportunities it has to move. If the US and, ultimately, the world do not vaccinate a sufficient percentage of the population, we will prepare to let the virus spread and move further, continuing to provide us with new variants that will continue to pose new threats.
The concern is not necessarily that the facts on the ground today could be disastrous. Vaccines work against the British version; the South African version is not, at this time, a dominant strain in the USA; and eventually we will be able to vaccinate at least some children, helping the US progress to herd immunity.
- But if we don’t control the virus well enough, even in the years to come, we could experience several new variants – some of which could be more lethal, some of which could be more resistant to vaccines, some of which could be be more dangerous for certain specific populations.
- This would translate into a continuing risk of disease or potential death for unvaccinated people and new breeds for vaccine reformulation as new variants emerge.
- And it would lead to a world where today’s vaccine-hungry population would have to live up to these emerging risks, receive booster shots when available, and be able to revive some of the pandemic’s social distancing measures, for sure.
Bottom line: This darker future can be prevented, and our abundant supply of highly effective vaccines is the way to prevent it. The more people vaccinated now, the lower the role of COVID-19 in the rest of our lives.
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