With teachers and vulnerable adults vaccinated, U.S. schools need to return to normalcy.

While Europe struggles to vaccinate its citizens, the United States is undertaking one of the most successful vaccination campaigns on the planet. In many states, everyone over 16 can now be vaccinated, which means all willing teachers and vulnerable adults — say, a grandparent living with a school-age child — are good to go. And, of course, children are at much less risk of severe disease or death than adults. This means we have to start thinking about how to transition from Covid-impoverished classrooms to more normal learning environments worthy of our long-suffering children.

It’s interesting to compare a primary school in the Netherlands — where most teachers remain unvaccinated — with the reopening guidelines for Los Angeles, where most teachers are vaccinated. Here’s the Netherlands:

(And, as a treat, let’s look at Belfast!)

So, will Los Angeles students — denied classroom learning for over a year — enjoy similar learning conditions to their Northern European peers when their schools finally reopen? Nope.

And it’s not just Los Angeles. Even in Georgia — a state notorious for its “light touch” approach to coronavirus rules — some school districts are only providing partial instructional days for children to avoid mask removal during breakfast and lunch.