Papageorgio
The Ultimate Winner
The first cases of the delta variant appeared in September 2020, not 2021. The chance to contain Covid and end it was pretty well over.I do agree that 100% vaccination will not end Covid. I did believe that there was a good chance it would when we were dealing with Alpha. However, we learned that the mutation rate was much higher than we thought which was confirmed with Delta and Omicron variants plus the strong vaccine hesitancy made anything near 100% vaccination impossible.
The first cases of Delta were believed to be in the country in late July or early Aug when death rates were running about 250 a day. By the first of Sept the death rate was running about 1400 a day peaking at 2500 by end of the month. With 90% hospital occupancy in Sept and death rates running at the Feb-March levels, Covid could not be considered endemic.
It's true that the Delta variant was infecting vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated but what you're leaving out is that the unvaccinated were far more likely to end up in hospital. In fact in Sept, the unvaccinated were 20 time more likely to end in the hospital than unvaccinated. Although it is true the vaccinated can be infected the viral load transmitted by the unvaccinated is 5 to 15 times greater than of the vaccinated.
I agree the epidemic will become endemic like the Spanish Influenza, however I do not agree the vaccinations are irrelevant. Epidemics become endemic or die out because the virus can not find unprotected hosts so it can not replicant. That protection can come from natural immunity or vaccines.
The advantage of vaccines is that you get strong protection without the chance of serious infection and death. The disadvantage of vaccines is immunity does not seem to last as long as natural immunity. Although natural immunity seem to give you longer immunity, research show that mild cases of Covid yield only low levels of immunity. In other words to get strong natural immunity you need a strong case of Covid which to me does not seem worth it.
The fact that the virus can jump species and find hosts in animals may or may not be relevant. For viruses to jump species, it requires a lot of evolution and the more complex the organism the more evolution it requires. So far the jumps to household pets has resulted in mild infections.
The Spanish Flu did not have a vaccine until the 1938 and was approved by the FDA in 1946. So, the vaccine did not change it from a pandemic to an epidemic. The biggest factor with the Spanish Flu was the mutating virus weakened with each variant.
So, your original contention that the vaccine will stop Covid19 was a false statement. There is no stopping it and the chance to stop it was gone before we could get the vaccine out. Also, your claim that the vaccine will change this to an endemic is also false and we have many examples through history that a vaccine does not end a pandemic, it can lessen the risk to a patient however time, mutating and exposure seem to be strong factors in ending the pandemic. As of now many hundreds of thousands vaccinated are getting the Omicron variant. I had a Covid in November of 2020 and then vaccinated in August, then got it again in October 2021, the length and symptoms were worse the second go round. I am tiring of the vaccine lies that those that politicize the vaccine have been telling. So, getting the vaccine is not the greater good for mankind to end this pandemic, it is a way of protecting yourself from getting it.