//Because the vaccinations won't be effective until at least three weeks have passed.//
Three weeks ago over 13m people had received two shots of the vaccine. This represents most people over the age of 65 as well as a number under that age and it provides them with as much protection as is available. In addition to that, another 21m people had received their first shot. This represents those between around 42 and 65 and they have been provided with around 65% protection. The vast majority of those likely to be admitted to hospital and almost all of those likely to die have received protection. This is reflected in the number of hospital admissions and deaths. Unless you are saying that we must wait until everybody has been fully vaccinated (and even then some people will contract the virus and sadly some of them will die) I don’t really know when you expect the lockdown to be eased.
The number of infections is not really the issue (though there seems at the moment to be no significant increase since the Indian variant was detected). The things that matter are the number of hospital admissions and deaths. Neither are increasing. But even if they do, with a population where the most vulnerable are largely protected the country will have to learn to live with it.
//Your take from the beginning of this pandemic to a degree was to just go with pretty much normal life.//
That was never my countenance. If you go back a year or so you will find that my preferred strategy was the proper shielding of the most vulnerable and I explained what I meant by that at the time. Meantime the rest of the population could carry on with non-brutal precautions. However, that’s history. The country is in a totally different situation now, one where, at least for the present, widespread restrictions are unnecessary.
Lockdown does not cause me any particular difficulties. It has not altered my financial position and whilst I'd like to resume a normal lifestyle, it doesn't really present me with any emotional, social or mental problems. But a lot of people are effected profoundly in one or more of those ways. Put simply, the country cannot continue in its present state because the long term (non-Covid) damage is increasing more exponentially than the pandemic ever was.