That is the narrative. Yes. However, every vaccine prior to COVID took years and years to develop. By the time they were introduced, cases and deaths had already begun to plummet due to natural immunity via exposure to the real virus, not artificial immunity via vaccination. Look at the charts of deaths and cases, and then when each vaccine was introduced, to verify yourself.
Discussion
Better sanitation practices also made a huge impact in better life expectancy and lower disease rates.
The vaccines likely had some positive impact, but they become less and less effective over time as each virus mutates, and the risks associated with each vaccine are real.
It’s simply not true that the Polio vaccine ended Polio all on its own, for example. Same is true with every single vaccine.
Better sanitation indeed helps (a lot). Vaccines also helped. And they will also helped in the future. As for covid, maybe it wasn't that necessary (for everyone), but biotechnology has improved and we will know more things in the future. Bitcoin will help in the grand scheme of things. Only the useful stuff will remain. And maybe i should add that the open source philosophy will eventually "affect" other aspects of humanity except computers 😉