Oak Street Health : Virus Unvaccinated Americans

Yet she is in no hurry to receive a vaccine - until she can discuss it with the doctor who treated her cancer at their next appointment. Her employer has asked her to be vaccinated and is pressuring her for an answer.

'I'll go with what my doctor says,' she said, adding that she would also be responsive to a requirement at her job.

The C.D.C. recommends vaccines even for people who have been infected with the virus. Some evidence suggests a prior infection offers less protection than a vaccine, particularly against variants like Delta.

For Troy Maturin, from Abbeville, La., the rapid spread of the Delta variant through his state does not make him more interested in getting the vaccine. To the contrary: He takes it as further evidence, he said, that the vaccines are a government plot.

'They'd have to Taser me, drag me out, and give it to me while I'm unaware of it,' Mr. Maturin, a 50-year-old auto parts salesman who described himself as conservative, said at the suggestion of a mandate.

Mr. Maturin belongs to the group of unvaccinated Americans who are unlikely to say they could be persuaded with improved convenience or even requirements. They are far less concerned about getting seriously ill with Covid-19, and much more likely to say they do not trust the government or the pharmaceutical companies that have developed the shots. They are not opposed to all vaccinations, but very few of them get annual flu shots.