We were never going to stop it. As soon as the "real lockdown" people were calling for in the US in April, 2020 was lifted, the virus would start spreading agai

We were never going to stop it. As soon as the "real lockdown" people were calling for in the US in April, 2020 was lifted, the virus would start spreading again since there would always be travel, p999 events, people violating lockdown, and animal reservoirs that would reintroduce it. China is the best case for "following through." It can hold back covid, but only through extensive testing, lockdowns, and border restrictions in perpetuity. Given US values (e.g. "don't tread on me"), 15% of the population would ignore restrictions. You'd also see the same thing globally, sometimes because of values, sometimes out of economic necessity. We never had a chance to vaccinate the world quickly enough, either. Up until delta, the mRNA vaccines might have been able to eradicate it, but delta was circulating in India around when those vaccines were approved. The logistics and manufacturing capacity to deliver them to rich countries was still 6 months away.