Vaccinated Americans are more likely to die from a lightning strike than covid. Don’t bring back restrictions.

But for the rest of us, the vaccines have turned covid-19 from a mortal threat into something little more dangerous than the common cold. Makary tells me, “If you’re vaccinated, you now are living in a world where there’s a seasonal virus that is very mild called covid-19 that could give you mild symptoms season to season, and that’s okay.” Indeed, he points out that there are four seasonal coronaviruses that have circulated in the United States for decades, and that make up about 25 percent of all cases of the common cold. Covid-19 is probably going to become the fifth. “Our battle has never been against the common cold,” he says. “It’s been against death.”