[marmarama]

But the vaccinations are working to get everyone out of the mess. While Omicron is not prevented entirely by the vaccines, hospitalizations per confirmed case are an order of magnitude lower than previous waves, and deaths are similarly an order of magnitude lower. This was the trend with Delta before Omicron as well.

Highly vaccinated countries are now at the point where any of the current variants are now only a little more dangerous than seasonal flu, which we live with almost every year. As such, barring a more dangerous variant arising, there is no point to further lockdowns. It's endemic, it's not going away entirely, but we can now live with it.

The most important thing we can do now is get the rest of the world into a highly vaccinated state, which will help suppress further variants emerging so quickly.