Had Pfizer #5 which is also targeting Omicron variant 2 weeks ago, with only local soreness, like with #1. Number 2-4 all gave me local pain the first night and then fever, chills, and fatigue on day number 2-3; but only #1 and #5 were more benign without making me feel sick. I was worried that #5 didn't make me very sick and just sore and tired, but they say it happens sometimes.
As a Microbiologist and a Pediatrician, I knew that if we didn't vaccinate everyone as fast as possible before new variant's could mutate and spread, that we'd be chasing our tails or need multiple vaccines as the virus mutated. We had so many cases and hosts in the beginning that I was quite surprised when we didn't start seeing major variants resistant to the Vaccine until the end of Summer or early Fall 2021.
Delta in Summer 2021 was still fairly strongly impacted by the vaccine with a high enough antibody load in the system (first 6 months after vaccine); and although the percentage of hospitalized patients who were vaccinated did rise from about 1 in 100 to about 5-10 in 100, fortunately the death rate from the virus was still quite low in those who were vaccinated (like 40 times lower) and had a breakthrough case. Nobody ever said the vaccine was 100% effective, and that it would be able to treat all variants that were incubating in the unvaccinated population.
I know several people who wished they'd had the vaccine and now suffer from Long Covid as a result of getting infected - fatigue, brain fog, slower performance of work tasks, and my watchmaker had tremors in his fingers for at least 6 months before improving (made his job very very hard).
With me having a chronic lung disease that scarred up and blocked all the pulmonary veins in my left lung (pulmonary hypertension and coughing up blood), and only a functioning right lung, I had to hide away at home for a long time to avoid getting sick because I was a prime candidate for death and destruction from Covid. I fortunately had a supply of N95 masks collected over the years, and a positive pressure face mask like the ER doctors used, because I've been sick for over 20 years - my precautions are why I exceeded my 5-year life expectancy that I was given in 1999.
At the time of the outbreak I was also Obese (another risk factor), and during the outbreak I became Hypertensive, and Pre-diabetic. I have lost 55 pounds in 2022 (262 > 207 lbs) and I am now almost off meds for blood pressure (1/4 the original dose), and am no longer pre-diabetic. The weight loss helps my breathing even when my O2 sats are in the 80's, and helps my 60 year old knees as well.
So, vaccines are not the only things we can do. We can try to treat or reduce our high risk factors, continue to be safe around other people, wear masks to protect those around us from us if we've been in situations where me might become pre-symptomatic spreaders (my mask protects you from me, not protect me from you). Masking, Quarantining, Sheltering in place, or Isolating ourselves reduced the Flu case to about 2500 in late 2020 early 2021, instead of the typical 30M cases and 30K deaths. I'm sure it helped reduce Covid deaths as well.