How did a pandemic that was largely ended by vaccines lead to this policy regime? 

Opinion | MAHA Is a Bad Answer to a Good Question – The New York Times

I stopped reading at that sentence. No idea what the rest of this nonsense story says.

AI generated answer (verified)

According to CDC estimates published in mid-2023, approximately 77.5% of Americans aged 16 and older had antibodies from at least one prior COVID-19 infection by the end of 2022. That figure reflects seroprevalence data—meaning blood tests showing evidence of past infection, not just self-reported cases.
For children under 18, the rate was even higher: over 90% had been infected at least once by December 2022.

By mid-2023 (2 years ago), the CDC estimated that 77.5% of American had had Covid, and 90% of children had had Covid.

The CDC estimates that 81% of adults had at least one Covid-19 vaccination and 40% of children had a Covid vaccination.

In other words, most all adults were vaccinated – yet almost all adults had Covid-19. Does that sound like a vaccine stopped the pandemic?

No. The pandemic stopped for the same reasons other pandemics stopped – people had the disease, developed immunity, and the virus, over time, mutated to a less virulent form.

Ezra Klein of the NY Times wrote the sentence at the top. It is not supported by any data.