It will be with us until everyone has been infected. Seems to me that this has been their unspoken belief the entire time. If the vaccines work to reduce risk of serious illness and death that is a good thing - we just don’t know the true cost of that good thing at this time.
Bottom line is they have known since at least January if not earlier that the vaccines have waning efficacy and do not dramatically reduce chances of infection or spread. Which makes the current policies about who can go out and about and who cannot a little ridiculous - or working intended to encourage mass infection.
According to the CDC, there were over 22,000 more deaths "associated with COVID" in the U.S. in September 2021 then there were in September 2020. In September 2020, no one in this country had been vaccinated for COVID. As of September 2021, millions had been. While there is surely some explanation for this, I am at a loss to understand how, in light of these data alone, it can be said that the vaccines reduce the risk of death.