If 2021 opened fearfully, with the public locked down in their homes to control a virus that seemed to have the entire world at its mercy, it may not have closed with great confidence, given the continued alarm about the omicron variant. But as the Prime Minister said yesterday, we are in an “incomparably better position than this time last year”.

That is because of the enormous success of the vaccination programme, and the fact that the number of hospitalisations and deaths from the virus has plummeted thanks to the jabs working their miracle. In January last year, there were more than 1,600 Covid deaths in a single day; last week, the average daily total was down to around 100, even as omicron has spread like wildfire.

The vaccination programme was the signal triumph of 2021 and Mr Johnson has been right to celebrate and to congratulate the heroes of this battle – in the shape of the doctors and scientists who gave us the jabs, and the extraordinary work of those such as Dame Kate Bingham who not only ordered them but made sure that they could be got into so many arms in such a short period of time. The public, too, is owed its fair share of recognition for happily receiving their jabs in such large numbers.

However, if 2021 was the Year of the Vaccine, it was not the year that the UK shook off the shackles of Covid restrictions for good. After several months of comparative freedom in the summer and the autumn, in which the worst of the pandemic appeared to be behind us, the emergence of a new variant in South Africa threw all certainties to the wind and led to renewed pressure for restrictive measures.

Travel quarantines and so-called Plan B were imposed early last month, while the first ministers of Scotland and Wales rushed into even more draconian curbs before Christmas. Their view throughout the pandemic has been that they can win political plaudits for restricting the freedom of their countrymen, with scarcely a thought as to the damage their methods wreak on their respective economies or the misery they inflict on society.

Mr Johnson did not follow their dubious lead. This may owe more to a serious parliamentary rebellion among Tory backbenchers over Covid passports, as well as pressure from his Cabinet, than to anything else. But it is a credit to him none the less. Evidence released in the past few weeks about the actual threat posed by the omicron variant suggests that it is far less worrying than the early modelling had suggested.

But what will happen if, in the days ahead, this variant is indeed judged to be a cause for concern, its sheer transmissibility posing a threat to the functioning of the NHS? What will happen the next time a worrying new strain emerges, as it no doubt will? We have no certainty that spooked ministers will not reach for restrictions again.

One thing is clear: the country cannot be trapped for ever in a damaging cycle of repeated lockdowns, in which it is considered legitimate for governments to shut down society and the economy whenever they or their scientific advisers consider it to be necessary. As many have been arguing since early 2020, at some point we will have to find an accommodation with the virus and learn to live with its effects. That is the only credible exit route from this pandemic.

Thankfully, that is precisely what the vaccines are well-placed to do. Moreover, the country now has other weapons in its arsenal, including an array of antiviral medicines. The challenge is for the authorities to develop the infrastructure to get them to the people who need them, when they need them, and to build broader resilience into the health service so that it does not so often risk becoming overwhelmed.

It would be fair to say that the new year is not starting in the best of circumstances. The economy is in the doldrums thanks to surging inflation and large numbers of people off work because they have to self-isolate. The international situation is hardly rosy, with tensions in Ukraine, the Middle East and over Taiwan. We are still living under burdensome restrictions, and large parts of the public health apparatus – notably the testing system – appear to be malfunctioning.

But there are still reasons to feel hopeful about 2022 and the years ahead. The country does not need to live under a permanent fear of Covid forever. Nor do we need to accept fundamental changes to our way of life. The promise of the vaccines is that we can return to normality, as it was before March 2020. It may take longer than some had expected, but we should have confidence that that is not just desirable, but eminently possible. We wish our readers a Happy New Year.