With the new Vaccine information when it will be possible to cruise normally

[Traveler]

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/20/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html

A new study  (Still without peer review) shows that the vaccine may prevent infection not just the symptoms.

Regarding children under 16 , both Moderna and Pfizer started conducting some tests and will have results in few month. By the way , In Israel they already started to admit the vaccine to children with  health risk factors (mainly issues with the immune system) , it is being done under emergency approval for the last two month and so far no issues.

 

[Matt]

2 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

We don't need it to be eradicated altogether, that would be nice but we don't necessarily need that. We just need it to stop spreading as efficiently as it does or to a super low level really, people not to be hospitalized and dying from this virus. Then we can sail, we are headed there ever so freaking slowly. 

Bingo! Just need to get this out of a pandemic and/or public health emergency.

[JeffB]

2 hours ago, LizzyBee23 said:

To add an anecdote @JeffB, conversations I've had with friends in my age group (mid 30's) who are close to the end of the line for vaccines have started to trend toward this doom and gloom version of the future and are approaching a nihilism that I don't share but do understand... Namely if it is really as bad as Fauci et. al. say with regard to variants, then why bother continuing with caution until their group comes up for vaccination. One friend of mine is particularly hung up on something Fauci said which boils down to "once we've got 80% of the population vaccinated we can talk start going back to normal", which is a mathematical impossibility until mid-way through next year, and hinges on the idea that the vaccines we have are effective (which other experts seem more than willing to express doubt about). Some people are looking at the year they've sunk into this while listening to statements like that, and essentially saying "firetruck it", as my grandmother would say.

I touched on this problem in my original post above. On Friday, the NYTs did a surprisingly apologetic piece on the damage being done by journalists (and scientists) contributing to the the nihilism you speak of. It carries over to anti-vaxer thought as well, that is to say, "if the vaccines have so many caveats about effectiveness, possible side effects, and worst of all the potential for re-infection by a variant even if you have been vaccinated, why bother."

First none of this stuff - and it's coming out of the mouths of respected sources like Fauci, for example we're making great progress, the vaccines are working ..... but, but, but, are factually accurate. It's also misleading. These "experts" (and they are) send a message that we aren't sophisticated or knowledgeable enough to understand details.

Here are the facts: the vaccines already in circulation to include Pfizer's, Moderna's, AZ's and as far as trials go, J&J, all have efficacy v. all three known and studied variants (there are actually over 200 of them but the variants being studied the most are ones that have mutations in the spike proteins and demonstrably increase rate of transmission or R0).  I can't speak for the Chinese, Russian or Indian vaccines. Casual and cursory looks indicate these vaccines are working too.

What large scale studies being conducted in Israel by apolitical, public health agencies have already demonstrated or early and small scale studies point to is that NO ONE is getting seriously ill or dying regardless of the genomic structure of SARS-2 that is the infecting agent. NO ONE! There are RARE occasions (although the press will make you think it's in the millions) of vaccinated people that get re-infected. Serology studies of these people indicate that SARS-2 viral loads are very low (reduces shedding) and that symptoms on re-infection are similar to the common cold - this is a coronavirus after all. You'll catch a cold by the same means that people were catching COVID a year ago. Vaccinated people just aren't getting sent to the ICU and dying anymore

There is also considerable evidence that vaccinated people - even after the first shot - are protected, don't need to mask or distance in all circumstances and many of the state and local patch-work mitigation measures can be safely ignored. That doesn't mean its a free-for-all. All levels of Illness from seasonal Influenza have been significantly suppressed. That is because of human behaviors being followed for COVID by a lot of folks. It is one of the reasons, along with the normal trends of viruses and the introduction of vaccines that every COVID metric is on the decline and downward trending and not just by a little. Those kinds of sensible measures should continue to be followed - wash your hands, even wearing a mask in enclosed, poorly ventilated spaces where people gather is a good idea that we should continue to practice as most Asians do.

[Marlena]

This study showing its looking like it cuts transmission as well! 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-pfizer-biontechs-covid-19-vaccine-reduces-transmission-after-one-dose/