Isn't this the standard pattern for the emergence and decline of a pandemic, even without vaccines or other interventions?
there never was the workload he claims
There seems to be a standard acceptance of all this from the medical community. The vax allowed them to send sick people home, just as Remdesivir could be administered to someone on a ventilator. Whatever made life easier - for them.
Of course, these are the same medical people who were trying to administer what they thought was a “vaccine” to the immune compromised or suppressed.
I believe that what you say is true. The effect is likely even amplified for a virus fresh from “gain of function”.