How Social Lives Are Changing During the U.S. Vaccine Rollout

Andrea Norred wasn’t too surprised to learn that many of her friends, as well as her 18-year-old son, have decided not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. She lives in Santa Cruz, Calif., a coastal city with an above-average rate of vaccine skepticism. Norred attributes that phenomenon to the area’s “hippie, free love” vibe; in many such communities, faith in natural or holistic medicine correlates with mistrust of vaccines, quite possibly to dangerous effects. Norred, 42, tries to be accepting of that choice, but it’s difficult. Herd immunity is particularly important for Norred; she has an immune deficiency that both puts her at high risk of severe COVID-19 and reduces vaccines’ effectiveness in her body. She has been hunkered down in isolation for the last year and says she won’t feel safe spending time around unvaccinated people while COVID-19 continues to spread. So for Norred, each unvaccinated friend is, at least temporarily, a friend lost. “I don’t know that things will ever be the same for me, socially, as long as COVID is around,” she says. The situation with her son is particularly painful. All she wants to do is give him a hug, but she doesn’t know when that will be possible again. Norred’s situation is particularly high stakes, but she’s not alone. For a year, the pandemic has uprooted countless social lives, shrinking them to fit inside our devices. For some, vaccination is starting t...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news