The Brief: Although the Coronavirus pandemic continues to break tragic records in the United States and worldwide, social media users are posting memes to imagine what life will look like after we get the vaccine.

Bluesquiggle
DEEP DIVE

Social media users are coping with the devastation of the Coronavirus pandemic by posting hopeful memes about what they’ll do “after we get the vaccine.” While COVID-19 continues to spread, causing mass sickness and death, vaccines are being approved and distributed in several countries. In the United States, distribution has yet to begin, but the F.D.A. is expected to approve emergency use of a vaccine on Saturday.

Memes that focus on the positive opportunities that lie in the future when a vaccine is well-distributed and the spread of the Coronavirus are under control allow people to have something to look forward to. According to these memes, people are excited about returning to a variety of social activities, including hanging out with friends, hugging family members, going to concerts, and having sex.

Many iterations of these memes pair the caption “me and the girls/me and the boys/me and the homies after we get the vaccine/once we’re vaccinated” with a picture of the types of activities they’re planning to partake in.

For some, life won’t change much: