This story was originally published in our January/February 2022 issue. Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.
As our calendars flipped to 2021, pandemic life didn’t feel particularly different than it had for the past year. Except, by that point, the very first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine had been administered.
Over the next few months, as people hit their immunity mark — two weeks after their final dose — those who had been staying home began to venture back into the world. And, on May 13, the CDC announced liberating new guidelines, allowing vaccinated people to “resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing.” A return to normal seemed to be on the way.
But normal never arrived.
The vaccine rollout worldwide was marred by vaccine hesitancy in some areas, and inequities in availability in others. By July 25, two months after children ages ...
