“My wife is on me all the time to do it,” said Brummett, 43, from Jackson County, Ind., who followed news this week of the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine. But Brummett, a libertarian critical of both the Biden and Trump administrations, said he’s struggling to trust any government messages about the virus. “I guess for now it’s a no for me.”

Tyler McCann, 24, of Augusta, Ga., also remains a skeptic, citing the low risk of complications for people his age. “If I get it,” McCann says of covid-19, “I will blame myself entirely. It’ll be my fault. But until then … I don’t see the necessity, and with how politicized it’s been, I’m just annoyed with it.”

Mark Anthony Garcia, 49, of Ingleside, Tex., ponders new questions since the FDA’s approval. “If the vaccine’s that good, why are we having breakthroughs?” said Garcia, referencing reports of coronavirus cases among fully vaccinated Americans. “They’re blaming [the pandemic] on the unvaccinated, but the vaccinated are spreading it, too.”