It’s a rare glimmer of hope in a brutal and battering pandemic year: in November, both Moderna and Pfizer reported that their much-anticipated COVID-19 vaccines are 95% effective in protecting people against getting sick with the disease. Scientists were encouraged (and even surprised by the magnitude of the protection), public health officials finally saw what could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic, and families everywhere began fantasizing about a return to normalcy where gathering around the table to celebrate the holidays are a given and not a matter of public health concern. To read the full story.