> the idea of the vaccine was always to prevent bad effects of infection, not infection as such.

This is false historical revisionism. Biden[1], Fauci[2], and the media sold the public on the vaccine and justified mandates by saying it would stop the spread. Early skeptics were labeled as misinformed conspiracy theorists. It later became self-evident that the vaccine was less effective than originally thought (e.g. everyone I know who got vaccinated, including myself, still got infected). Only then did the goalposts move to "it makes infections less bad". But that is not how it was originally presented.

[1]: https://www.whio.com/news/local/exclusive-news-center-7-sits...

[2]: https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/553773-fauci-...