SARS2 is definitely a much more difficult foe, and counterfactuals are always hard to establish, but I think we came pretty close to fighting it back. And we might still!

I honestly have some hope for eventual elimination of the common cold (actually many different diseases, not one) to a large degree. Vaccine technology is advancing at a ridiculous pace these days. There is so much we don't know about immunology, but we are also learning so fast and biotech is accelerating too.