Vaccines of hope abound, but it’s too soon to let our guard down

The wildflowers are out along Texas highways, the annual blanketing of bluebonnets, buttercups and prairie verbena that enliven our daily journeys, and serve as a reminder to nourish that side of ourselves that’s drawn to the beauty of this world.

“The bounty of nature is also one of the deep needs of man,” Lady Bird Johnson once said, explaining why she chose to make beautification her priority as first lady, even in times ravaged by conflict, uncertainty and want.

And this year, arms are out too, receiving the vaccines that will, God willing, at last bring the COVID-19 pandemic to an end. As of Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 102 million Americans have received at least one dose of vaccine. Some 58 million of us are fully vaccinated against COVID, having received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or the single-shot Johnson & Johnson version.

“These are shots of hope,” said President Joe Biden in a call with faith leaders Thursday, recalling a conversation he had with an Arizona nurse. And that, he noted, has been strained over the course of the past year.

“How many times did you watch on a cellphone a parishioner having to say goodbye to his mother or father in a — in a ward where they couldn’t — they couldn’t be there?” Biden said. “How many times have you lamented the fact that leaders in your faith community have not even been able to have the funerals that they deserve and the remembrance that is so important because there’s a finality?”

In Texas, 12 million doses have been administered. I received one of them on Thursday, at a small clinic in rural Kinney County: a quick, painless jab, followed by 15 minutes in the waiting room in case any adverse reactions developed. An older gentleman sitting next to me, who had just received his second dose of the Moderna vaccine, told me about the vari

ous events he’s looking forward to in the post-pandemic world. The town’s monthly breakfast should soon resume, he reckoned; for $5, you can fill your plate with pancakes, sausage and eggs.

So does all of this mean you should let your guard down, take off your mask, hit the clubs, perhaps plan a quick trip to a crowded resort for spring break? It does not.

But you can, at least in Texas where last month Gov. Greg Abbott reopened the state 100 percent. Many, to judge by the crowds that have flocked to some restaurants and bars since then, seem to have taken that proclamation at face value, despite the governor’s assertion that Texans will adhere to safe practices such as social distancing and wearing masks even in the absence of a mandate.

But although the vaccine rollout is picking up steam, it’s hardly a fait accompli at this point. In Texas, everyone age 16 and older is eligible as of March 29 to receive a vaccine. That doesn’t mean that everyone who wants a vaccine has been able to get one yet, or even to make an appointment. Many Texans, too, remain wary of these vaccines — enough to prevent us from reaching herd immunity, perhaps. This is an issue that will confront us directly in the coming weeks, once the supply of vaccines catches up with the extant demand.

And according to public health professionals, we’re once again at an inflection point in the pandemic, partly as a result of the reopening of a number states, and partly due to the concurrent emergence of new, highly transmissible COVID-19 variants.

At a White House coronavirus press briefing on Monday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky volunteered that she has a recurring feeling of “impending doom.”

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope,” she said. “But right now I’m scared.”

Although the number of vaccinations is rising across the country, so too is the number of infections, hospitalizations and deaths, Walensky explained.

“We are not powerless,” Walensky said. “We can change this trajectory of the pandemic, but it will take all of us recommitting to following the public health prevention strategies consistently, while we work to get the

American public vaccinated.”

In an interview with National Public Radio on Friday. Dr Anthony Fauci, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, argued that a fourth wave can be avoided.

“It's kind of like a race between the potential for a surge and our ability to vaccinate as many people as we possibly can,” Fauci explained.

Hopefully, he continued, the vaccines will win; we’re currently facing “a more efficient virus,” but each day, about 3 million people are vaccinated, giving us all, collectively, a better chance to thwart its spread.

His summary certainly sounded less dire than the one Walensky offered, but they’re ultimately saying the same thing: We have reason to hope, but not to relax.

That’s a bitter pill to swallow, perhaps; the sacrifices we’ve been asked to make this year, which most of us have made, are the kind that take a toll on one’s spiritual, mental and physical health. Reopening advocates aren’t wrong about that.

But let’s remember what’s at stake. More than 550,000 Americans have died as a result of this pandemic; Dr. Deborah Birx, who served as coronavirus response coordinator under President Donald Trump, recently said that she believes most of those deaths could have been avoided. A haunting thought.

We are now in the second spring of this pandemic at just the moment that Americans are in sore need of the renewal the season represents.

And the end is in reach, even if it’s not quite upon us yet.

“Where flowers bloom, so does hope,” as Lady Bird said.