In 1918 the Spanish Flu wiped out hundreds of thousands or mllions of people. Our science since then has made great progress. Except?

COVID 19 is wiping out hundreds of thousands or millions of human now ins 2020. That seems so strange to me that we still can't be pro anything. We are always still reactive. We lag behind the virus ability to mutate. It will always be ahead of us and we will always be trying to play catchup. WHY?