Oh I'm sure they have. But as you note, if it was all a lie then they were unknowingly complicit is some soul crushing approvals and advisories. I don't think they are there yet. That's hard to accept. It's going to take a lot of research and investigation before they are ready to accept that possibility themselves, let alone try and publish literal heresy supporting it.

These higher up positions are political, even if you're an honest scientist filling them. You have to have political skills. So they know they lose nothing extolling the vaccine if it buys them the necessary capital to have additional boosters pushed back on.

The whole article is littered with reasonings that even the staunchest pro covid vax supporter can get behind. "The boosters are more effective used on the unvaccinated" comes to mind in particular.

Their goal is to convince the world not to pursue endless rounds of boosters, (and I think this articles makes the case for it, if it would ever be reported on) while pushing back on the vaccinations, even if they are already there, can come later.