Mass boosting _everyone_ made a lot more sense in the August-November timeframe it was originally proposed and implemented. The booster brought vaccine efficacy

Mass boosting _everyone_ made a lot more sense in the August-November timeframe it was originally proposed and implemented. The booster brought vaccine efficacy against infection back up to 90-95% against the Delta variant. If everyone who came in contact with seniors or almost-seniors was boosted, it would bring down the transmission of the virus (since you can't transmit if you aren't infected) and hopefully prevent those seniors from running the risk of death or serious injury from COVID. Since the Omicron variant emerged in late November and it bypasses even boosted immunity to infection in somewhere between 30% and 60% of people, as a result we've seen worldwide that vaccination is unable to bring R0 below 1 and stop the spread of the virus. > If we take years to send out masks, we clearly think more about masks as a public declaration of loyalty than disease prevention devices. The masks being sent out by the US Government seem more like a reaction to the realization that Omicron bypasses vaccine immunity to infection in a massive number of people, who still want some way to protect themselves from the virus. In 2021, the government was attempting to push vaccination as the only way to protect yourself from catching the virus, because social distancing and wearing masks annoys their voters (especially swing/independent voters) and they have an election to win this year. They only sent out masks and tests when the media/people began to demand it after the vaccine failed to stop Omicron.