"The Covid vaccines are pretty good at that."
I think it is a mistake to compare them.
AZ in the UK, used in majority, on an island, produces a herd immunity that cannot be achieved in places that have used multiple vaccines using different technologies.
I think the scores of countries that have used the most classical methods demonstrate that (China, UAE, Turkey, Morocco). Japan made the choice of allowing only Pfizer probably with some reasons.
In Israel and France, data show that on elderly populations, it is 50/50 between vaxxed and unvaxxed hospitalization, against related to co-morbidities.
And we'll never know if a simple vaccine such as boosting doses of vitamin d for everyone everyday would not have made the trick. Remember that fifty percent of all deaths in the EU were in care homes, i.e. if you control this from the beginning, you control a lot. But that also would mean mandatory vaccination at least for the staff, and this is something on which I am still unable to decide if I am for or against. Were the vaccines tested on longer time, or all based on classical methods, it would not be an issue.