@AmperoBlue - really? I'm extremely lucky, I work in a school but my husband is working from home. He's normally in a job hundreds of miles away so having him at home has taken a huge worry off regarding his chances of getting Covid.
But, my BIL is out of work. My sister is on short hours. Our DS has a heart condition but is allowed to go to school so the worry of Covid and the possible implications for him are immense. My niece has a chronic condition that Covid could make 100% worse.
My friends are either furloughed or have self employed partners so money is tight.
I could do a happy dance for my situation, but I don't. Because it's a case of 'there but for the grace of God'. It could be me rather than my sister who is worried about the mortgage being paid. Instead of keeping my fingers crossed' about our son and Covid, I could be shut away with a young adult who should have been starting university this year but couldn't because of her chronic illness. My sister hasn't been out to anywhere but work for 9 months in order to shield her daughter.
Have a bit of empathy for goodness sake!
OP - the vaccines were always going to be of the type that protects the person who has the vaccine. Like the flu one does. If you have the flu vaccination you can still get the flu, it just won't be so bad. That's the plan with these - to cut the hospitalisations and deaths. You'll still get Covid but it'll be like a flu (hopefully).
There is the possibility that the vaccine will stop or reduce transmission - it's totally new so they don't know. They don't even know how long the immunity will last. But it's better than we have at the moment with cases rising.
It'll mean that, whilst we may not be in a position of being able to spend lots of time with family, we may be able to have people round to the garden or meet in the park like we did in the summer. At the moment, in tier 4 as we are, we can't even do that.
In the meantime, try to find some peace with what's happening. We've tried to find films we've never had the time to watch, played games we've never had the time to play. The shed's been cleared for the first time in years - which is a bonus even if it wasn't enjoyable!
The only 'good thing' about the issue with the kids is that every child is in the same boat. Some may be further behind than others but they'll all be working to catch up and our teachers will pull out all the stops to make sure they stay on course. You know that, as a teacher yourself.
I've been pretty positive all through this pandemic but I've now had enough myself. I want to be able to plan a day out without having to take food or work out if we can travel a few miles from our home to cut the monotony. I want our son to go and play football in the park, do an after school club again and not have to look like Dick Turpin every time we have to go for a heart check up! It'll come eventually but I'm not as upbeat as I was in the first wave. Time for me to dig deep.