I think we all fell for it. The narrative around the vaccine changed several times. First it was supposed to be the golden bullet to dramatically destroy COVID. But new variants, plus the fact that it actually didn't really prevent transmission made it ineffective. But it turns out it did reduce the severity of symptoms. The problem is that most younger people never had bad symptoms to begin with. Then it started to get ridiculous with "booster shots". And throught health professionals continued to repeat the mantra, that the vaccine is the only way to stop COVID, even when it became increasingly clear that it couldn't.
In the end the virus just petered out on its own. The costs of the virus were largely unnecessary and wasteful. It turns out the anti vaxxers were right for the wrong reasons.
I don’t recall any flu shot claiming to reduce transmission. Can’t see how you’d be able to run a clinical trial for preventing infection without a lot of people coughing on others. I can’t see whether this is a big concern as it reduced the severity of the disease which reduced the load on medical systems.
As with any vaccine going back to the initial efforts with cowpox, the goal was/is to train your immune system to deal with the toxin without having to be infected by it. Pre omicron, countries with good vaccination rates had lower fatalities. Post omicron, to date at least, it behaves like a flu without flu shots - roll the dice and hope. We’ll see whether bivalent or otherwise updated boosters help.
Or, just blow off vaccines and take your chances. Although it’s polite to avoid us old farts while doing so.
> Getting vaccinated yourself may also protect people around you, including those who are more vulnerable to serious flu illness, like babies and young children, older people, and people with certain chronic health conditions.
It reads that by getting yourself vaccinated, you may be protecting others. While it does not explicitly mention lowering transmission, I does seem implied. Otherwise, what else can it mean?
In the end the virus just petered out on its own. The costs of the virus were largely unnecessary and wasteful. It turns out the anti vaxxers were right for the wrong reasons.