Any coherent explanation of this pandemic is also going to need to wait until the pandemic is finished. It is totally possible that there will be no vaccine and COVID-19 is just an ongoing thing for the next 70 years.

If that is the case, how much can the lockdowns really help? I'm on board with slowing the disease down and giving the medical community 6 months to get their bearings. But it has now been 6 months and the question is "what is going to change going forward?".

We know we can't make vaccines on demand - we still don't have one for herpes afaik.