MaxQ

The reason people get vaccinated for any virus is to reduce the chances of getting said virus. Or if one does get infected, so as to already have a leg up with their immune system.
I did not contract polio. An older sister did prior to vaccination being available did.
If I see someone with a pockmarked face I assume adolescent acne. Smallpox doesn't even enter my mind.
Did you grow up in a society free of polio and smallpox? How did that come to be so?

When COVID first appeared on the scene your chances of dying from it (if infected) ran about 5 to 7percent. After a relatively short while, if you caught it you ran about a 2% chance of dying. (I am ignoring contributing factors such as age, pre-conditions, etc). By the time vaccines had been available in the USA for a few months (it's roll-out was well managed) total deaths fell sharply (don't remember the numbers) and your chance of dying from it, if you contracted it, fell to below 1%.

I know of at least one scientist who posited that without the anti-vax campaign enough of the population would have gotten vaccinated to essentially make COVID 19 history. Instead it is still around and can still kill.
I lack the knowledge to say that he (she?) is correct, but based on our success with past vaccinations I find the assertion plausible.

Since medical treatment became politicized by Dunning & Kruger Inc. it is almost impossible for the un-trained to assert pure idiocy.