This = to have vaccine?

Would you prefer to have no vaccine? This was the only thing we could do = Would you prefer to have no vaccine? To have vaccine was the only thing we could do.

Context:
What about the millions paid to vaccine companies? All the scientists contacted by New Scientist say launching vaccine production at the start of the pandemic was appropriate. "When a virus emerges from the animal reservoir you don't know how it will behave," says Ilaria Capua of the World Organisation for Animal Health's flu reference lab in Legnaro, Italy. "We were quite lucky with this virus. Would you prefer to have no vaccine? This was the only thing we could do."