I'm not sure that having a new strain that might be more transmissible and might mean vaccines are somewhat less effective means we need to forget all hopes of relaxing lockdown.
Firstly, the vaccines we have are not ineffective against any strain tested as yet, just a little bit less effective, but still more effective than what we'd normally consider an effective vaccine.
Secondly, it's very likely that people who catch one of the new strains after being vaccinated will have milder illness, a level of risk we can live with.
Thirdly, scientists are already working on adapting existing vaccines to better target new strains. The likelihood is we will all need booster shots every year, just like flu. But that's ok, we can do that.
And finally - most importantly - we're going to go on getting new variants, whether or not we try to close our borders. We're going to go on getting them for years and years. We cannot enforce lockdowns and keep kids out of school for years and years (most likely decades). We will need to learn to live with it.
So I don't think people are stupid or unreasonable to be thinking about getting their lives back once they are those around them have had a vaccine.