But what comes after?

The good news is that the experts in disease are optimistic that the back of the pandemic has been broken. A semblance of normal life now beckons for the ACT.

A caveat first: 90 per cent fully vaccinated does not include people under the age of 12 so the actual proportion of Canberrans protected is actually less than nine of every ten - but still very high.

Not so fast.

The experience of other countries is that the sudden removal of restrictions can lead to a surge in cases, albeit ones usually without serious illness.

When Israel reached 80 per cent vaccination, it opened up completely - and cases soared.

Nobody knows what will happen in the ACT but the experts' expectation is that there will not be a similar rise.

"Even if we see an increase, as long as they are mild cases not resulting in hospital, that's something we can live with," according to Dr Sanjaya Senanayake of Canberra Hospital and the Australian National University.

And the rise might not happen, anyway. "You have so few cases in the ACT, as you are starting off at a very low base," Professor Adrian Esterman of the University of South Australia said.

But the virus will remain even with 90 per cent inoculated. Protection comes from the vaccine but also from not coming into contact with infected people.

Some inconveniences may well remain. "Masks may be your close companion and friend for a while to come, particularly in crowded spaces," Dr Senanayake said.

They might - never say never - but they are unlikely, according to Professor Catherine Bennett of Deakin University, at least in a blanket, city-wide form.

She foresees a much more measured, targeted response to future outbreaks because such a high proportion of Canberrans have protection from catching COVID in the first place, and even more protection from becoming seriously ill if they do catch it.

She doesn't foresee the need, for example, to insist on home quarantine for every single person who has been near any future case. Even fleeting close contacts of a case might not need to be isolated.

"It's not worth putting a thousand people into quarantine if you have one case," she said.

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She thinks of the new situation as one where protection and measures are dialed up and dialed down to meet specific situations.

An outbreak in a particular suburb could be met with a limited lockdown.

Masks might remain sensible in crowded sports events, for example, but not out in the street and open air.

The youngest children aren't, but the thinking of experts and the authorities in many countries is that they should be, and probably will be.

And teenagers in Canberra are usually fully vaccinated so there is still some protection in schools. The more of us who are protected from the virus, the harder it is for the virus to find people to infect - and that includes school students.

On top of that, the research indicates that children are less likely to infect other children. They tend to catch it from their parents, according to Professor Bennett.

"With vaccinated teachers and older classes vaccinated, schools are looking safer than we thought," she said. "They are not the problem we once thought they were."

There would still be a need to monitor air-circulation, for example. And testing for infections would be useful.

But Professor Bennett envisages less disruption of school life, with fewer children sent home if an infection in a school is detected.

The hard work on vaccines has been done - impossibly hard work as it seemed 18 months ago.

Some of the new vaccines are very easy to adapt to new variants. "The beauty is that we can adjust the vaccines," Dr Senanayake said.

He thinks boosters are on the way, perhaps as summer comes to an end and winter looms. The booster jabs might even give longer immunity than the original double vaccination.

And the timing for the ACT is good.

We are coming out of lockdown just as summer starts, and summer means outdoor living. It is much harder to catch COVID out of doors. Winter is when we are in closed spaces.

"We've now got five months of fair weather. We've got this window of long days and doing things outdoors," Professor Bennett said.

Her advice is: "Get outside. Do things outdoors."

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