I think in these discussions, it's easy to forget exactly how dire things were at the time of the vaccine rollouts. The medical community worldwide really barely understood Covid, how it was transmitted (I remember Dr John Campbell, when he was reputable, saying it was transmissible through urine), how transmissible it was, how to treat patients. It was a real day-to-day learning experience with the world as guinea pigs. Economies were tanking, people were dying everywhere, medical staff and hospital beds were stretched beyond imagining. There may have been an element of hoarding PPE in the early advice for the public not to mask, but the bigger truth is that it took them a while to understand that it was largely respiratory transmission.
There were other ways to stop the spread--closing borders, hard masking laws, longer lockdowns, but they weren't feasible. At that point in time, the vaccine felt like our only way out. I do think there was early hope that it would offer more of a hard stop in transmission than it did, and that immunity would last longer than it does, but the same was true of the virus itself. There was widespread surprise when it turned out that immunity from infection waned within six months. Vaccination also was, and remains, the best method of stopping new variants from emerging.
My husband had it very early (March 2020), oddly I didn't get it, and although he was never in real danger, it really was quite terrifying. People were extremely ill in that first round with very few resources available for treatment. There weren't even tests available unless you were hospitalised, and even those had a 48 hour turnaround time.
I've taken every vaccine I've been offered and been happy for my children to do that same. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I believe somewhere around 6 billion people worldwide have received it, and, believe me, it's being closely studied and monitored. I'm confident that overall it's very safe. Going forward, the decision to take boosters for me will depend on infection rates and variants.
I do think it's a shame that there is such widespread resistance to masking. Every study shows that a high quality mask, worn properly, is very effective at lowering transmission rates, particularly when combined with ventilation (MPs have had a very nice anti-virus system installed in Westminster). I would have more respect for the anti-vaxxers if they combined it with a pro-masking stance.