They both work. They are not 100% effective though. The vaccine helps protect against serious illness. It reduces the chance you will get serious ill, but it's not guaranteed that you won't get ill, even seriously. Trials of people who got the vaccine, and those that got a placebo, show that it is effective at reducing your chance of serious illness. That's most important.
Mask wearing, with an N-95 or KN95 mask, helps protect you if it is worn properly. (Properly fitted) It's not a guarantee either. There's video online showing how much less comes through a mask compared to not having one.
Protecting yourself also helps protect others. If you don't get it, you're one less person that can spread it to others, including family, friends and healthcare workers that may have to treat you. And one less person it might mutate inside of and then you potentially have the next variant.
Some people might not want to believe it, but it doesn't change the facts above. The development of the vaccine, and treatments, have likely meant that millions of lives were saved. Sadly, millions died around the world in the pandemic. In future pandemics, hopefully many people will wear masks, and social distance, until vaccines and treatments can be made available. That saves lives. Throughout human history we haven't had the technology we have now. We can fight back against pandemics, it just takes time to develop, and properly test (like they did with the coronavirus vaccines), new vaccines and treatments. |