I think part of the problem is that things that work get discontinued... "Oh, we're 70% vaxxed and positive rate is under X%..we don't need to mask anymore.."
Meanwhile in Germany questions have been asked in the Thüringer Landtag (parliament of the state Thüringen) [2] about an oddity in the relationship between excess mortality and vaccination status of states (Bundesländer) - the higher the vaccination rate, the higher the excess mortality [3,4 (both in German)]. This should of course be the other way around, it is after all against severe disease and death that the vaccines are meant to protect.
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKVOqYUAHTo
[3] https://www.utebergner.de/der-wert-eines-menschen-haengt-nic... (in German)
[4] https://www.utebergner.de/cms/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/%C3... (in German)