I think the question is what kind of endemic it'll become (in, say, 5 years). Will it be like flu where we're not too bothered if 10,000 people die in a year, or will it be more like measles where we're really upset when there are clusters of cases and where we really try hard to keep numbers of cases low.
Nobody knows that, but of course, we all hope it'll be much less of a difficulty as this last year has been. We mustn't forget that whilst we accept 'flu (being around in the world) as part of our overall winter living, lives are lost to 'flu every single year, yet we have come to accept that as being very unfortunate, but "usual".
Let's face it, we can't predict the future with something this new, but it shouldn't stop us moving forward. I mean, we don't know how, as an example, personal relationships will work out, when we meet someone new. It could be forever happiness, or a nightmare, but few of us have lived lifelong monastic lifestyles. We have to move forward.
Please don't think I'm hard, or a disbeliever in how catastrophic this has been for some people and families, but there there are also those for whom that devastation has come about because of the lockdowns, and changes to our lives. I'm thinking of missed diagnoses, and lack of monitoring for other potentially life altering, or life ending conditions.
It really has been a lose/lose situation for so, so many, and I count me and mine incredibly lucky come to this point disease-free - as far as we know. Our lives have been impacted, but we have to come to terms with the impacts we see as negative. That is our job, I feel.
No vaccination programme will see a 100% uptake, and for some that will not be for the want of trying. Some people are being advised against vaccination at this point, where their specialist advisors cannot agree which, if any of the current offerings are safe for them, then of course there will be those who will decline it for their own reasons.
Life has changed, and we have to change alongside it. The specifics of those changes, and what levels of acceptance might be required will vary for each of us, but I think it will take a while for life to become relaxed again for many.
That's unfortunate, but it is what it is, in my personal opinion.