Sadly the covid vaccines don't seem to slow the spread in any meaningful way.

Mmmm, yes and no. They definitely tamed the symptoms in anyone that got it, and they made it rather less likely that you'd get it anyway. Consider that before the vaccine and even with masks and everything else it was going through the population of every country where it appeared like prunes through a short grandmother.

As for the symptoms, let me put it this way - I only know four people who refused to get vaccinated, and they died of COVID, or an existing condition made drastically worse by COVID.