I guess what I don't understand is this: if we accept the premise that political actors and power brokers need us peons to function obediently underneath them, in order for them to maintain their current wealth & power -- then why would they want to risk wiping out massive amounts of this "worker bee" population under the threat of viral variants that could become immune to the vaccines?

Why wouldn't they want as many people vaccinated as possible, in order to maximize the working-class and middle-class workforces underneath them? Unless they're okay with limited "population control" (via Covid-related deaths) under the assumption that enough of the global population will survive (or remain unaffected) to keep driving their prestige & commerce?