well first of all congratulations on your victory!
I didn't get the depression that many do but the "brain fog" was (kinda still is) horrible.
It truly amazes me how differently this crud affects different people.
Mt big scare was my kidney function was starting to degrade due to the fact that I am a diabetic and already am high risk for kidney problems without covid.
I feel like everything is pretty much back to normal except I never feel like I can get that deep lung filling rewarding breath.
As for the vaccine I can say my second bout with covid was a lot less trouble , have no idea if the vaccine had anything to do with it or not. Buy I do know for a fact the vaccine made me sicker than dammit for about 4 days. And when I say sick I mean as sick as I was with the first round of covid.
Sorry for your loss, lifelong good fishing buddies can be counted on one finger.