>if it were a proper vaccine, the vaccinated wouldn't be able to contract covid at all.

What exactly does this mean? Some vaccines confer sterilizing immunity, some confer non-sterilizing immunity. Both classes of vaccines have been used successfully in humans and animals to control disease outbreaks for decades. It's difficult to confer sterilizing immunity to coronaviruses as they are more likely to mutate. That doesn't mean the vaccines 'don't work.'