They did stop the spread of the historic and alpha variant in Israel, with a 55-60% rate of vaccination (I mistakenly thought it was 70%, it was even lower). Before the onset of the delta wave, the virus was about to go extinct there.
You can check the graphs. May 11 2021, there were 4.66 new cases per million inhabitants. By June 9 it was down to 1.5. Compare with the surrounding countries, where the alpha wave lasted much longer, and was still lingering when the delta variant came around.
https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explor...
June 9 coincides with the point where the delta share crossed the 50% threshold.
https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explor...
But the global vaccine rollout was criminally slow.
I don't know how hospitals devise their COVID policy in the US... In France you need a "Sanitary pass" to access healthcare facilities. You must either provide a negative test taken in the last 24 hours, or a proof of some level of immunity (either up to date vaccination, or a COVID recovery certificate from less than 4 months).
Are you not posting a message demonstrating your current thinking? And your current message is showing the same thought process. You need to adjust your knowledge of the situation.
Giving the entire planet a booster every 3 months is not a viable strategy.
> it would have been possible to contain the epidemic
No, it would not.
> had we not let covid
We didn't "let covid" do anything. This is not a disease we are currently able to control.
Vaccines don't work stop the spread of the virus (they only stop serious disease), masks don't work, lockdowns don't work.
The only failure here is we let fear control us. Once the first vaccine was available the fear should have been over.
But even today hospitals are refusing non vaccinated visitors even if they have immunity due to getting stick. There is no scientific basis for this, it's just fear.
And it's stupid as well - the vaccine only works for a few months, but if you got vaccinated 2 years ago you are permitted entry, but you recovered from illness 1 month ago you are not. This is not science, this is dogma.