In Washington, D.C., where 3 in 5 adults and 3 in 4 seniors are fully vaccinated, just four of the 375,000 people vaccinated died from coronavirus, all of whom were elderly or had serious medical conditions.

We have the empirical evidence: The vaccines work. Not only is the threshold of effective herd immunity for the fully vaccinated much lower than some experts initially feared, but this level of vaccination also allows us to return to the pre-pandemic normal — masks and social distancing fully discarded.