The first lesson is already stated above: if you possibly can, get vaccinated. Time will tell whether people will need top-ups, or whether more vulnerable groups will need annual boosters.
Secondly, effective PPE for care workers and healthcare professionals will also protect them and those they care for from more serious consequences. It rests on governments and those responsible for the provision of care to ensure this happens, otherwise they are failing in their duty to society.
Finally, other lessons still need time to fully process: more data is needed and will be to hand after restrictions on movement are lifted, for which there is now a logical case. The status of the infections is such that the morbidity that they cause for most of the population no longer justifies the draconian measures that were called for (unless hindsight proves otherwise) before an effective vaccine was produced.
As hospital admissions and deaths seem to be nearer to normal levels in countries that have had the privilege of access to vaccines and the capacity to roll them out, they are now willing to take a calculated risk, in relaxing many (but hopefully not all ) restrictions. They are balancing the adverse effects of infections against the negative effects of restrictions on social, financial, mental health and general health issues (such as treatment of cancers and other necessary health procedures). Time will tell if this strategy will work.
In a further bulletin, we’ll try and make an overview of the issues that need to be resolved to allow a more effective global response given that further pandemics are probably inevitable.