> We usually have long testing periods, but we didn't this time, for reasons that remain unclear

A pandemic ravaging the globe doesn't seem clear?

> Please remind me, when was the last time that we gave people vaccines not to protect that person specifically, but to allegedly protect some unknown other person, somewhere?

Herd immunity and personal protection are both parts of every vaccine, they go hand in hand. I'm surprised this is even a discussion on a place like HN... I guess I'm feeding the trolls...