When this whole thing began I found compelling the articles saying it was possible there would never be a vaccine, or that several years might pass before one became available. So I consciously decided that my best approach was to adjust my life and my expectations to the assumption we were stuck with the virus, whilst hoping to be pleasantly surprised if a vaccine did one day appear. It seemed better to accept, without passing through the stages of grief, that my life had permanently changed and adjust accordingly, instead of going into a kind of holding pattern resisting the new way of living, waiting for a vaccine to miraculously deposit me back into my old life.
There seems to be a lot of optimism not only that there will be a vaccine but that it will be here within 12 months. Since we are now six months into this (today is September 20, and--if I remember correctly--the lockdown started on March 20), another 12 months would align with the initial optimistic projections of 18 months at the earliest. That would be a great result from a health perspective for billions of people. However, whilst we can be more positive now than in March about the likelihood of there being a vaccine, we can be less positive on another score: it is now very clear (because most authorities seem to be saying so) that the first vaccines will have only modest levels of effectiveness. I doubt many of us armchair expects understood that back in March. It is a very important factor, that we should not overlook even as we find ourselves bombarded with news about how quickly science is advancing towards vaccines.
I feel like I have made the successful adjustment in the way I envisaged back in March. I don't feel frustrated that things are the way they are. I don't long for my old life and I am not in a holding pattern hanging out for a vaccine that will take me back there. Some people I know do seem to be living that way. Good for them; but my approach seems to be working for me. I follow the vaccine developments on the same basis I imagined in March: if it comes, and comes quickly, that will be good for many many people; but, because I am adjusted to the new normal, for myself, I will take my time to evaluate the benefits and risks and only take it when I think the time and the conditions are right.
www.theatlantic.com
