I agree with everything you said, Starsong. In addition, I would add this: The pandemic caught the world by surprise. No one was really prepared for such an eventuality. It was like we suddenly got clobbered over the head with a 2X4. They rushed to produce a vaccine, and IMO came up with several very effective vaccines at amazing speed.
The main problem seemed to be distribution. Example: I kept getting emails from my county telling me that the vaccines are available at various health facilities; all I had to do was find one that had an appointment opening. This turned out easier said than done. I finally found one, not as far as Carol had to travel, but about 45 minutes away, following a difficult, winding route with lots of turns. When I got there, there were literally hundreds of people ahead of me. I arrived an hour early; they were running 2 hours late. So I had to wait outside in a parking lot a total of 3 hours! No place to sit, not even a rest room conveniently near. (A volunteer walked me to the main hospital building, not an easy walk, and made sure I went in the right door, as the main lobby had Covid patients coming in, and I had to use a back door and a downstairs restroom.)
The staff working there looked exhausted.
When I went back 3 weeks later for the second shot, everything worked very smoothly. No waiting at all. I complimented the lady who was admitting me and mentioned what a difference from the first time. She said,"Well, we're learning as we go." And that summed it up.
We're all fed up with the quarantine, and to make it worse, we're having a few days of steady rain and cold temperatures, so I can't even go out for a walk. (Well, I can, I just don't want to.) This is not a fun situation for anybody. But it certainly beats being dead!
