Why are government officials avoiding questions about when life will return to normal?

Because they don't know. Nobody knows. Naturally nobody wants to be the over-confident idiot who says "July 15th for sure!" but then the whole world has to go into lockdown on July 12th.

Because at the moment, no one really knows how effective the vaccines are going to be. Some countries are taking longer to vaccinate people, especially European countries. The problem is that EVERYONE needs to be vaccinated, and the vaccines have to prove that they are keeping the deaths low.

Fuсk, I am smart!