One year of covid: 10 surprising things we’ve learned

"It's probably good news that it isn't 50,” Vermund says. At the current rate, vaccine manufacturers should be able to keep up and develop vaccines that protect against more

than one strain, he says. 7. THE OLDER YOU ARE, THE MORE DANGEROUS IT IS. Age is by far the strongest predictor of your risk from COVID-19, and that risk “increases steadily as you age,” the

CDC says. About 95 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. have occurred among people who were 50 or older, and 8 out of 10 have been of people 65 and older, according to the CDC. "Age

being such a big factor was a surprise,” Vermund says, noting that there aren't many other diseases in which age alone plays such a critical role. Fortunately, studies show avoiding

chronic conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes can significantly improve your odds, no matter what your age. 8. PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE AT HIGHER RISK. African Americans,

Latinos and Indigenous people have had the highest rates of death from COVID-19 in the U.S., with all three groups dying from the virus at around twice the rate of their white counterparts,

according to the CDC. Experts believe a variety of factors contribute to the disparity, including unequal access to medical care and health insurance, economic and cultural factors, and how

much exposure to the virus a person may have on the job. 9. THE VACCINES WORK. Vermund called the COVID-19 vaccines that are rolling out now “some of the best vaccines ever developed in the

history of time.” All three — from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson — are at least 86 percent effective against severe disease, and in their clinical trials, not one person

died from COVID-19 after getting the shot. “You can't do much better than 100 percent protection from death,” Vermund says. The speedy development of COVID-19 vaccines was the result

of hard work and collaboration from scientists from across the globe, but there was also a little bit of luck involved, Vermund says. "The virus was very friendly to us in presenting a

spike protein that was easy to replicate biotechnically and [that] stimulates a protective immune response,” he says, noting that other viruses haven't always presented such an easy

path to vaccine development. 10. IT'S NOT GOING AWAY. Most experts now believe the coronavirus will never totally be eradicated. Even if the required 70 to 85 percent of the U.S.

population gets vaccinated for herd immunity, the virus has already spread too far, and it's changing too fast. The goal, instead, is to vaccinate enough people worldwide that COVID-19

becomes a relatively minor illness for most people, like the seasonal flu, Wolfe says. Occasionally, there may be a severe case in someone who didn't get vaccinated or who didn't

have a strong immune response to the vaccine. But, Wolfe says, the hope is that in two to three years, “the vast majority will be protected and going about their lives normally.” _Michelle

Crouch is a contributing writer who has covered health and personal finance for some of the nation's top consumer publications. Her work has appeared in _Reader's Digest, Real

Simple, Prevention, The Washington Post _and_ The New York Times.