“ I had hopes this damned thing would just fade away”
Me too. I was gleefully calling herd immunity when case numbers crashed through the Spring, but Delta changed the coefficients in the equation.
It’s unlikely that another variant could be significantly more infectious - Delta is already close to pegging the meter on that. The big risk is a variant that significantly evades existing immunity - from prior infection, vaccination or both.
The Moderna CEO recently predicted that world has about a year left , before we are really post-COVID for policy - based on accelerating vaccine production, and Delta burning through the unvaccinated. I assume that the USA will be ahead of many lesser developed nations, so it might be a matter of getting through this coming cold and flu season for us.