Scientific American
After a year away from friends and co-workers, people sometimes struggle to resume their public routines
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After being diagnosed with COVID in November 2020, Andrea King Collier doubted the antibodies that she had developed in response to the illness would protect her from a second infection and was determined to be first in, or near the front of, the line for a vaccine. The Flint, Mich., resident registered at every vaccine distribution site she could find and never stopped looking for a way to receive shots early.
By February 21 Collier had received her second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. But when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave the green light for vaccinated people to resume prepandemic activities such as gathering indoors without masks on March 8, she did not experience the sense of freedom she had imagined. If anything, she became more fearful of infection. She has yet to eat in a restaurant or see anyone beyond her pandemic bubble. Formerly an avid traveler, Collier says she cannot imagine getting on an airplane again in the foreseeable future.