Yes, and with the continued prevalence of novel strains they fail to hit a moving target.

Are people who say this unaware of annual flu vaccines?

To compare, we're still by some measures 103 years into the Spanish flu pandemic [1].

[1]: https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended

Pharma companies realized the money is in subscriptions. Like Adobe, why offer Photoshop for a one time sale when they can go the SaaS model and get the juicy recurring revenue.

Vaccine as a service…

It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma. You are of course correct that pharma, like all businesses, loves recurring revenue. Statins made billions and billions to just give one example. Meanwhile Gilead made a Hepatitis B cure and while it did well the first couple years, profits dropped like a rock because, well, it was a cure. Goldman Sachs even helpfully pointed out in a research note that cures are economically inferior.

> It’s really interesting how this pandemic has got formerly cautious people all in on big pharma.

I think you might be confusing support for vaccines as support for pharmaceutical companies, when that's actually far from the truth. To use your statin example, suggesting or even pressuring a sick loved one to take statins so they don't die a preventable death isn't implicit support for statin manufacturers, but recognition that in the face of preventable suffering or death, sometimes the pills are one of the least worst options available. Similarly, in the face of an ongoing pandemic, vaccines are one of the least worst options available compared to preventable illness and death.

> I think you might be confusing support for vaccines as support for pharmaceutical companies, when that's actually far from the truth.

I think the OP is still accurate, as people have been very defensive about questioning big pharma now and the media is calling everything “anti-vax” if even questions some details

Flu vaccines have a similar immunity cliff. Some HIV vaccines in trials also had similar rates, where the vaccine would need to be given once to several times a year. Some viruses are adapted, or are able to mutate, to avoid immune responses relatively rapidly compared to other viruses.