You can't call the vaccines "laughable" as a whole.
Most of my extended family: aunts, uncles etc have taken the vaccine. I know a few of them that contracted Covid without symptoms. Keep in mind, these people are in their 50's and 60's.
I think it does work for the most part. Hindsight is 2020, but I would have liked my father to have gotten vaccinated. He wasn't anti Vax, he was if it isn't broke, don't fix it, type of guy.
Unfortunately, with 40 years of second hand smoke, the vaccine might not have worked at all. Still would have been worth trying.
Hopefully, scientists are studying these types of scenarios in the lab. Those are the studies that would make the most impact.