PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As we approach spring, people are itching to get out of their houses.

Whether it's traveling out of state, going to a restaurant or having a get-together with family, when will we be able to do these things without the fear of COVID-19?

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"It's just been dragging and dragging on. I'm going to be really happy when it's all over," said Michael McGovern.

McGovern is itching to do all those things, but doctors told KDKA it's not as simple as saying, "By this date, the pandemic ends."

"Once we get a larger percentage of the population protected, we'd hope that the virus would no longer spread," said Allegheny Health Network's Dr. Mark Itskowitz.

That's where the term herd immunity comes into play.

"If you are fully vaccinated and you get together with other people who are vaccinated, you essentially have herd immunity in your herd. But that's a really small group. What we are talking about is the ability to go out to a large group or event and have the confidence we are protected," Dr. Itskowitz said.

Dr. Itskowitz told KDKA that it's going to take about 90 percent of the nationwide population to get vaccinated to hit that immunity. Right now, that number is at about 12 percent, and there could be challenges before we get there by the end of the summer or fall.

"We will get to the point where everyone who wants the vaccine has received it. And we will be left with a percentage of the population, as high as 20 to 30 percent, that resists getting the vaccine and at that point, we are going to have to assess if the virus is still being transmitted," Dr. Itskowitz said.

In the end, time is the driving factor to living life mitigation-free.

"If we look at what happened in Europe, we don't want to open too quickly. We have to monitor the situation daily," Dr. Itskowitz said.

As we push to herd immunity, people want to know if this will be an annual vaccine. Doctors said they believe the vaccine will last longer than a year, but you could need to be revaccinated depending on how effective it is against the COVID-19 variants.